Gears of War - The Blood Reaper Chronicles
by AlduinGijinka
Summary: A reupload of the original story I had written on dA. The prologue thoroughly explains exactly what the story is. But to give the rundown, a new Lambent threat has risen and a special group of locust soldiers have to deal with it before things really get out of hand. And I paired my OC with Skorge.
1. Quick Author's Note

Hello! I am here with a much more improved story. This has nothing to do with my previous story, and I also did it on DeviantArt as well (my username is also LadyAnarchy63 on there too) so if there is some obscure lore in there, me and my friends exchange our fancanons on dA.

This is a AU Gears of War story involving a squadron of half-human Locust soldiers, lambent takeovers, and crazy bounty hunters.

The 1-4 Chapters aren't spectacular, but I am getting much better at writing now, so I reccomend reading up until the 7th Chapter and see what you think about it then.

There may be changes from this version and the dA version. Mostly including grammatical and spelling fixes, and a more detailed character introduction for our main gal, Kandace.

Anywho, I hope that people will enjoy this story.

Thank you for reading.


	2. Prologue

_**AN: I apologize if the first few chapters seem a bit messy and rushed. This was about the time where I was a little rusty on writing fan fiction. Thankfully, my friend has been giving me later help with my writing skills**_

"So, a reaper can do all that?"  
In one of the codex centres, some of the locust were reading up on some of the mythology, mostly stuff humans had made up. They had read about other entities before, but recently had decided to read about grim reapers due to them appearing a while after E-Day, known as Epic Reapers or something along those lines.  
"What are you grubs doing?"  
Sanguine had settled her self on a nearby small scaffolding nearby them, eating some fruit. Sanguine was the older sister of Clarity, particularly not fond of joining little factions. She was more of a brutish person, instigating fights, and other stuff.  
"Nothing much, just reading on some stuff here. Reaper stuff."  
One of the grenadiers gave a Theron a slight slap on the shoulder.  
"Doesn't that Kandace woman preach about being a sort of 'Blood Reaper'? What's her deal anyways?"  
Sanguine shot a glare at the grenadier as she leaped down and flipped her hair back and started walking away mumbling under her breath.

Rusted metal in the hallway corridors of Nexus to one of the locust highways where they would send the troops to the surface. She entered one of the crowds and nudged a kantus with her shotgun. Much to his irritation he growled and turned to Sanguine.  
"What do you want!? You're starting to annoy me!"  
Sanguine smiled and rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms behind her back.  
"Oh, I was wondering if you knew where one of your commanders were considering you're the same species, Zado."  
Zado cringed a bit, stopped walking, and glared at Sanguine as he sighed in anger.  
"He left to torture the prisoners, good luck agitating everyone else off there, half-bred brute."  
Sanguine chuckled a bit as she left Zado to his work.

The fresh scent of blood was relaxing to her she rested her arms on a ledge as she watched the human labourers work on mining for supplies, whilst humans were being tortured nearby. Of both blood, human and locust. She had long flowing blood-red hair and cold dark eyes. Her clear complexion and snow-white skin was a lovely trait she had compared to other females. She stood up straight as she turned an eye to notice Skorge standing behind her, her dearest lover, as he placed his cold hands on her shoulders.  
"These humans are quite pathetic, aren't they?"  
Kandace shifted her eyes and sighed a bit as she started to walk to her left side.  
"Hmm? Is something wrong?"  
"Yeah... I'm probably a bit thirsty, I need fresh blood to counteract my imulsive cells."  
Skorge turned his head to Kandace as he placed his chainsaw staff over his shoulder.  
"So, how does blood taste to you anyways?"  
"...I've tasted my own blood when I was broken by the humans. It doesn't taste bitter anymore."  
Sanguine then walked in with her hands on her hips as she approached Kandace, who, aware of her presence, turned to her sweeping one of the strands of her out of her face.  
"Sanguine? Why are you here?"  
"Well I heard people talking about that reaper stuff you talk about? Where did that come from anyways?  
Kandace sighed as she leaned against something as she stretched her legs.  
"Two years ago when I used to fear the humans, the day they captured me they discovered my unnatural ability to regenerate my wounds. When I escaped months ago, I killed them all with a sickle and licked their blood off my fingers. Mother told stories about how I would be spirited away by reapers if I was bad. So, I did my research and found out about the creature I wanted to become. An illusive figure, a harbinger of death, I wanted to avenge everyone I lost, and I have. Not to mention, we idolize a reaper, specifically the Blood reaper, Samael. Any more questions?"  
Sanguine scratched the back of her head as she looked around awkwardly.  
"Well this got a little sad, eh?"  
Suddenly a grenadier stumbled in and nearly tripped as he stopped to catch his breath.  
"Th-The prisoners escaped... And they're rebelling!"  
Skorge's eyes widened as he turned to the grenadier with as serious look on his face.  
"We shall be there soon. Look for survivors."  
Skorge then placed his arm around Kandace's waist as he smiled at her.  
"Killing some humans would get you into a good mood again, eh?  
Kandace smiled a bit as she pulled out a boltok pistol.  
"You really do know me well, Skorge."

(SORRY IT'S SO FUCKING BAD, I GET BETTER, I SWEAR!)


	3. Recklessness

Shots rang out in the hollow, prisoners ran rampant as locusts were gunned down, and Skorge had sent out a squad to find the positions of the rebels, as the others did as well.

The human forces were prisoners escorted to the confinement of the torture barges as their squad was gunned down, so a professional group of soldiers wouldn't be as easy to take down as they thought. Eventually however, they stumbled around the path near the exit and came across the docking bay were the boats were positioned.

"Hell, I think this is the exit! Delta Squad came in this way, remember?"

"Are you sure? Looks kinda dangerous..."

Locust reinforcements where heading down the steps while the soldiers were taking there leave out of the locale.

"The humans are escaping! We'll never catch them now!"

A Theron guard hissed, as he threw his torque bow on the ground in frustration, just as Kandace emerged from the crowd as she watched the soldiers taunt them as they sailed away to freedom. Kandace only laughed as she pulled out device and flicked a switch.

"Y-you! Female priestess! What do you think you're doing!?"

The theron shrieked as he pointed a bony finger in her direction. Kandace shifted her eyes to him as she kept a sinister smile on her face.

"I rigged one of the boats for... Safety measures..."

A loud explosion rang out as the boat burst into a large fiery explosion as blood and other miscellaneous organs were launched all over as the locust stared wide-eyed at the explosion.

"Oh, it appears it was more messier than I thought, I should use a different brand."

"A-Are you INSANE!? who rigs allies' transportation with BOMBS!?"

Kandace pushed him back and sighed angrily.

"Well, you weren't going to do anything about it. Secondly, don't call me a priestess. Despite my breed of locust, I prefer not to follow any beliefs. Understand?"

Kandace turned to find Queen Myrrah with her arms crossed looking rather agitated as she mumbled something in frustration as some of the other generals accompanied her. One of the therons, stepped forward and yanked one of Kandace's scarlet red strands of hair up to face him as he growled in anger.

"You... Care to explain yourself?"

"Well, let's see... I rigged a boat with bombs, some humans you couldn't catch got away cause you're incredibly slow, I stopped them from getting away with brute force. Anything else you'd like to address?"

He grinded his teeth, losing quite a majority of his patience as he grabbed Kandace by the neck with one of his hands.

"You dare insult me? I'll break your neck if I have to."

"Really? I'd like to see you tr-"

He threw a swift uppercut as Kandace cringed and spit up a bit of blood as she tried removing herself from his grasp. She looked into his cold eyes, as she bared her fangs in anger. A hand suddenly gripped the guard's wrist tightly. He turned his head to see Skorge glaring at him angrily as he tightened his grip.

"Stand down. Or YOUR neck shall be broken."

He dropped Kandace as he shoved Skorge away and shot a look of anger at him. Kandace stumbled to her feet as blood trickled from the corners of her mouth as she coughed a bit. Skorge helped Kandace up as they continued glaring at each other, as Myrrah walked over to her.

"Child, do you need medical treatment?"

"No... I'm fine, it'll heal eventually."

"Well, you seem to be bleeding quite a lot."

A palace guard said jokingly as he stretched his neck and grinned. Skorge pointed his chainsaw staff at him in annoyance and hissed loudly at him.

"She SAID she was fine. You stand down as well."

Karn rolled his eyes in anger as he and the others decided to go do something else, as Kandace wanted Skorge to stay behind to have a talk with him. She slowly wiped the blood off her face as she winced in minor pain.

"You didn't have to protect me like that. I don't want you to get hurt too."

Skorge shrugged as he loosened the grip of his chainsaw staff and turned to walk away.

"But... Can you promise me this? I want you to stop acting cruelly to other locusts."

Skorge stopped in his tracks as his eyes widened as he turned to face her looking a little agitated.

"I can't keep promises like that... They will follow the orders I give them or suffer! Just like the followers of the other worm gods, just like the traitors! They are humans in locust shells who need discipline!"

Skorge roared in anger as he started breathing heavily eventually calming himself down, as he relaxed himself as he maintained his cool.

"I-I apologize... M-My temper is..."

Kandace gently placed a hand on his shoulder smiling innocently before wiping what was left of the blood with her forked tongue.

"I've acted the same before, when I released my catharsis upon the humans, they bested me and took me away to experiment on me. We all have our limits."

Skorge was fully relaxed as he ran his fingers through her bright-red hair and laughed a bit.

"Well, Well, Well! I enjoy your optimistic attitude despite your intimidating exterior! I believe me and the other priests have some sort of meeting and I would be honored if you and Stizza, being kantus yourselves, could attend."

Kandace stepped back and folded her arms behind her back with a sinister yet elegant smile on her face.

The moon was high in the sky, the shade of night was black with a melancholy tint of blue and was filled with bright stars. The wind was chilling but still not as cold as to make your skin crawl. Around the frosted grass was a church-like building.

"I just realized we might be talking with religious freaks..."

Kandace slightly grinded her fangs and cringed at thought of being surrounded for god-knows-how-long with her people preaching about worms and other stuff.

"Well, it won't be THAT bad."

Stizza said cheerfully as he kept his head high without his prosthetics attached to him.

Approaching the entrance they saw a savage kantus with scars on his body. He had a look of disgust on his face as he saw the two as Skorge came out to greet them. The savage kantus turned as he growled at Skorge.

"Hmmph. You brought the half breed and cripple here too? What a shame, I was expecting some more... capable priests."

"I'm sorry, I thought Skorge was the high priest, not a whiny, negligent scratching post."

He shrieked in anger as he charged Stizza before being held back by Skorge, as Stizza stuck out his tongue and taunted him.

"Che'ziek, stop being so stubborn, before I give you another scar."

Stizza let himself in as he had Kandace attach his prosthetics to his stubs, and stretched himself out as he laid back in a chair and placed his feet on the table only to have Skorge knock his feet back down due to 'respectful' reasons. The others took their seats as Kandace laid her face down on the table and mumbled sounding rather annoyed.

"So, what kind of deluded worm talk are we going to discuss today?

Skorge lightly pulled her head back up as the others talked among themselves.

"Actually we would be discussing something much more intriguing."

One of the kantus lowered their head in fear.

"The lambent are returning... It's... Awful..."

Kandace's eyes widened in surprise. The lambent? Back? Those words did not comply to her.

"Their leader is a human type of Lambent. They call him Vazeera. I wanted to tell my higher up kantus troops because we have the ability to stimulate our imulsive cells, which he could corrupt. Even one of us can regenerate with their stimuli.

Skorge eyed Kandace as she looked around awkwardly, while Stizza looked at a slight stain of blood around the corner of her mouth.

"And you tell us NOW!?"

Che'ziek grabbed Skorge on the shoulders and slammed him against a wall in anger, as Skorge glared at him.

"If you really want to do something about it, go scout out some lambent for us."

Che'ziek snarled as he stomped out the door and took his lancer with him.

"...Wow."

Kandace said as Che'ziek left the meeting angrily, Skorge sighed as he placed a hand over his forehead feeling stressed out.

"I guess we'll continue the meeting some other today, everyone is dismissed."

The kantus got up out of there seats as they took their leave as Skorge watched Che'ziek leave he began to get an ominous feeling.

"Skorge is something wrong?"

Skorge turned to see Kandace standing beside him with her hands on her hips catching on to Skorge's distracted mind.

"It's nothing. I'm just a little shaken up. We all are. Who knows what abominations the lambent will spawn now."

The savage locust blinked his red eyes in frustration, anger, loathing even. Why wasn't he the high priest? Because Skorge's siblings were generals as well? Che'ziek was an envious being. He couldn't wait to find some indigenous fruits to mix to get a good high to make him forget his troubles.

He heard a splash and looked down to see a gooey glowing substance, Che'ziek had become aware that there was some sort of shadow looming over him, waiting... Che'ziek quickly turned to find a tall creature with a bright yellow glow and messy hair covering his glowing eyes that oozed imulsion.

"W-who are... you?

He smiled evilly as imulsion dripped down his face as he began to speak in a low tone.

"...I am Vazeera."


	4. A New Foe

"W-who are... you?

He smiled evilly as imulsion dripped down his face as he began to speak in a low tone.

"...I am Vazeera."

Che'ziek stumbled back in fear, wide eyed as Vazeera lurched towards him giving off a sinister laugh he started to sprout tendrils from his back. Che'ziek pointed his gun at Vazeera with his hands trembling and his forehead sweating.

"W-Why are you here!?"

Vazeera leaned in close and looked him examined his prey.

"I was looking for some recruits... You look capable enough."

Che'ziek revved up his chainsaw bayonet and jumped back as Vazeera still walked towards him.

"Back off! Or this next one's going to your face, dark-"

Vazeera stuck his hand in his mouth and yanked on Che'ziek's forked tongue.

"I believe you need to learn your manners, or it comes off next time."

Che'ziek had the wind knocked out of him with Vazeera's swift fist as he punched him in the gut. Che'ziek wheezed as saliva and blood dripped from his fangs, as Vazeera began whipping him violently with his tendrils. He lifted up Che'ziek's battered face as he cringed in pain.

"I've seen your behaviour towards the high priest. You were envious, sickened with anger."

"H-how did you k-know that?"

Che'ziek muttered weakly, as Vazeera stood up and a polyp crawled out of his sleeve.

"I listen to the creatures, and they listen to me. I am their king, their dark ruler."

Che'ziek stumbled to his feet as Vazeera held a hand out to him.

"If you join my ranks however, you WILL get your recognition!"

Che'ziek shot a glare at him as he sliced his hand off with the bayonet of his chainsaw.

"I don't want to hear your lies! I would never betray my people like that!"

Vazeera picked his hand off the ground as he leaped into the air and kicked Che'ziek into the ground as he reattached his hand to his limb. Before picking up Che'ziek and wrapping his cold hand around his neck and squeezed tight.

"If you won't except my offer then you are of no use to me, instead I'll make you into another puppet!"

Vazeera unsheathed his hand from his sleeve and held it out. It was surprisingly cleaner unlike the rest of his body.

"Your hand... Where is the imulsion? It was there... A minute ago!"

Che'ziek's eyes widened as he had realized what had happened. Vazeera had transfered his imulsion into his bloodstream. Che'ziek looked down as the veins in his arms glowed bright yellow. Che'ziek shrieked in immense pain as his body glowed golden as he warped into a lambent, groaning, making hissing noises, and trembling in agony.

Vazeera turned around as his robes flowed elegantly in the cold wind as he took a now lambent Che'ziek with him in his stride.

"Nonsense! The lambent were defeated!"

A boomer slammed his fist on a scaffold as he snorted angrily. The others had gotten the news of the lambent returning and a lot of them were quite concerned.

Skorge watched stressfully as the locust talked about the lambent as Kandace noticed him and sat beside him.

"It's stressful, I know. We can beat them, I'm sure of it! Hey, Skorge?"

Skorge lifted his head up and looked Kandace in the eyes.

"...I'm going to kill them all."

Kandace looked a little concerned with Skorge's behaviour. She got up and placed her pale hands over Skorge's and gave him a small smile.

"If you want I can show you the cool things I got at my place! This one time I stole this guy's cool looking Lava Lamp. It's a totally nice shade of sunset orange."

Skorge grinned as he stood up and put his arm around her waist.

"Well I guess you're right, it'd be nice to get away from all this paranoia clutter."

Meanwhile, the Crimson Knights had entered the throne room to explain a plan they devised to help with the lambent. They got on one knee and bowed their heads in respect as Myrrah got off her throne.

"Queen Myrrah, we've got news to deliver. We decided we were going to raid the humans for supplies."

Myrrah looked intrigued by the idea. Using humans to get more supplies? Only the best would've known to do this, she had thought.

"Very well, make sure not to waste too much troops."

Coquelicot bowed in honor.

"Of course, your Majesty."

Kandace opened the front door to her place as Skorge peeked his head in and looked around confused. Her house wasn't looking like a cell, or was even in poor condition. It looked relatively normal, like how a human would have it. Kandace stretched her arms and relaxed herself on her couch as Skorge was examining a calendar baffled at the human technology.

"I-it's so small and square..."

Kandace laughed a bit as Skorge dropped the calendar in confusion and slowly turned his head to Kandace.

"M-might I ask why you're so... Casual?"

Kandace sat up and shrugged a bit.

"I dunno, humans are probably just more innovative I guess. Plus, I AM half-human, I got a humans figure and face with the only difference being the shoulders, teeth, tongue, toes, skin and eye colour. I mean, I have HAIR for God's sake."

Skorge kneeled to Kandace and placed a hand under her chin.

"Well, those features are what make you so pretty to look at, right before you rip their guts out."

Kandace smiled as she stood up and walked to a cabinet and took out a vial blood and took a quick drink of it.

"Yeah, I forgot to take my blood dosage."

Soon Kandace heard tapping on the window. As she approached it, she saw a ticker with a message strapped to its back, she took the paper and read that something was going down near human territory.

"I'm sorry, but I have to leave, I appreciate your company though."

Skorge nodded his head and went to leave before Kandace grabbed his arm and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, leaving a slight blood smear on his face.

"By the way, I want you to come back without some lambent parasite swimming through your veins."

"Relax, I'll be fine! I've survived everything else, Skorge!"

Kandace laughed as she drew her weapons and headed out. Skorge decided to leave and head back to the others in case plans were being made, Myrrah needed escorting, or other things. On the way there he walked into a Palace Guard.

"Oh! High priest Skorge! I didn't expect to see you here!"

The Palace Guard bowed as Skorge walked past him. The guard shot up, and stumbled over to Skorge.

"Th-theres... Blood... On your face... You didn't do anything irrational did you, Sir?"

Skorge growled a bit, feeling a tad annoyed at the behaviour of the guard, being obnoxious and many other things that he wouldn't even waste saying to his face.

"If you must know, Kandace invited me to her quarters and had to take her blood dosage... And well... You know."

The Palace Guard placed a finger on his chin in sudden realization.

"Oh! Did you two mate or something?"

Skorge's face turned red and he hissed in anger as he roughly slapped the guard on the top of his head.

"N-NO WE DID NOT!" Besides, she can't reproduce anyways, now will you quiet down!?"

The guard grinned and nudged Skorge a bit and began rubbing the back of his sore head as Skorge angrily glared at him.

"Don't worry about it, sir. I won't tell a soul about what you and your mate do."

Skorge shoved him away and walked far away and wiped the blood smear off, as the guard angrily bared his fangs as he stumbled to his feet.

"Of course his temper acts up... Again..."

Meanwhile, at a base nearby, the Crimson Knights were hiding in the shadows nearby whispering among themselves.

"We can't leave without Kandace! She's our leader, Stizza!

"I know, but we're pretty talented, right guys?"

"You're an idiot..."

Stizza leapt up as a clicking noise was heard as the circular panels on the palms of his artificial hands began to ignite, Stizza ran out of cover and sprinted through the entrance of the base before hearing a beeping noise and looked alarmed seeing it was rigged with grenades and other traps. Stizza leaped forward as he rolled away with the spines on his armor, avoiding the blast radius, as Coquelicot facepalmed in the background.

He turned to see the human forces pointing boomshots in his direction. Stizza panicked only before one of them got sliced open by Kandace from behind with one of her large scythes, alerting the humans as the Crimson Knights sighed in relief. They leapt out of cover and pointed guns at the humans threatening Stizza.

However, seismic activity could be felt as a large stalk burst from the ground and carried the humans while impaling most of them. Soon a large glowing figure burst out of the stalk turning out to be a lambentzerker.

"W-what's THAT!?"

"Lambent."

Kandace lifted her scythe over her shoulder and glared at the lambent berserker.

"It's never easy, isn't it?"


	5. Vazeera

Kandace loaded her scythe rifle as the lambent berserker roared. She fired round after round into its chest, as it flailed around in pain. It picked up its pace and charge Kandace who swiftly dodged its attempts. Coquelicot drew one of his long swords as he stabbed the lambent berserker violently in its gaping wound. It screamed painfully as it thrashed around in a violent rampage. Coquelicot sheathed his sword as the lambent berserker looked around endlessly for its attacker.

"Wow, you got it good, didn'tcha?

Clarity chirped enthusiastically as she turned to Coquelicot.  
Suddenly a large slender tentacle came and wrapped it self around the lambent berserker as it squeezed in half.

"You're worthless, can't even take down a simple grub..."

A voice bellowed as it stepped on the surface. It was Vazeera, who'd emerged from the shadows and was smiling menacingly.

"Who's that?"

"That's the lambent captain Vazeera..."

"I don't care who he is, he's dead!"

Stizza leaped over to attack before getting the wind knocked out of him as he was picked up off the ground by one hand.

"You're a half blood, I've heard of your kind."

Stizza struggled to unlatch him self from his grasp. He took off the straps of his one prosthetic arm and fell to the ground landing on his lower back. Vazeera examined the arm eyeing curiously before throwing it against a tree, shattering it like fragile glass. Stizza's legs became numb in fear as he tried crawling away rapidly before Oxblood stood in front of him, shielding him from Vazeera.

"Oh. You're defending the half-blood? Surprising coming from someone much like yourself."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I simply mean to say that you shouldn't treat a lesser class like your own brother."

Oxblood raised his fists in anger at Vazeera and glared him in the eye as Vazeera blankly stared at him. His eyes cold and emotionless.  
Vazeera whipped Oxblood out of his way as he turned to others.

"I-its no use! We have to get the others!"

"No. Not without Stizza."

"I know that! But we can't get him with that scary guy there!"

Vazeera noticed Kandace and Clarity making plans about their escape route, and he then crept up behind them. They saw Vazeera and jumped back in surprise. Kandace drew her weapons and signaled the others to leave while she fended off Vazeera. She rushed at him, dueling with her new foe.

"Tell me, what do you plan on accomplishing?"

"I'm going to slay you here, for all our soldiers and allies you've injured and murdered!"

"Oh? Is that a possibility?"

"No. It's a promise!"

Kandace slashed at Vazeera's chest as his flesh was tearing up, imulsive blood spilling all over the battlefield.  
While her guard was down, Vazeera emerged a stalk from the ground and latched it around her neck.

"Foolish girl, I'm surprised you've managed to survive all those circumstances you've endured."

He threw her to the ground and kicked her around a bit as she struggled to get to her feet.  
"What nonsense, I'd have kicked your ass if I was stronger."

She stumbled up and fired shots into his chest and he winced a bit as his golden blood leaked from his jaw line

"Your weapon is more powerful than I thought..."

He shot headsnakes out of his shoulders and shot fire from them torching her as she fell down cursing and screaming in pain.

"However, it wasn't strong enough..."

Kandace looked up at him shivering in pain, as she was glaring at him. Vazeera raised a fist before having his arm sliced off. Vazeera stayed still looking surprised and in terror before looking behind him and seeing the rest of her squad and Skorge. Vazeera slowly fell to his knees in shock and was breathing heavily.

"You... Bastard... How did you manage to cut through my defenses!?"

"You let your guard down, funny, is it not?"

Clarity and Coquelicot helped Kandace back up to her feet, and watched Vazeera shivering holding his stub.

"What are you looking at, half-breed b-"

Before finishing his sentence, he had a rapid kick across his face by Skorge in a rage, before subduing him by impaling him in the back with his chainsaw staff.

"You are not permitted to speak in my presence, worm!"

Skorge hissed at Vazeera, as Kandace felt her burning flesh, in horror knowing it could have led to her doom. She was going to heal, but it would take some time. Skorge removed his double-bladed chainsaw staff from Vazeera's back and left him crippled on the ground as he left him to suffer as he approached Kandace, placing his hands firmly on her shoulders.

"Y-your injuries... Are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine. I underestimated him..."

"And got yourself injured!"

She turned her head slightly away as the others left to rest. She felt guilty having him worry like this about her, although a lot of the other locust would describe him as being a cold-hearted sadist, she managed to reach out to a more gentle side of him, a side that most haven't been able to see for themselves. Kandace didn't want to take his rare instances of kindness for granted, knowing how volatile he tends to act, which perfectly complemented his villainous demeanor. Skorge sighed as he loosened his grip and rolled his eyes.

"At least you're alive."

"I'll be fine, I just... need to rest for a bit."

About a while later at the infirmary, a lot of the soldiers where getting their wounds healed, as Kandace began to notice Stizza with Coquelicot, getting his prosthetic limb repaired.

"Hey Commander! You got a little red streaks on your face... Not that much different than the normal look."

"Yeah, I'm fine, more importantly, I'm more worried about my lieutenant."

Stizza leaned backwards and removed the spiked helm of his armor revealing his blonde hair, and ran his fingers through it stressfully.

"I wish I could've done more, you're like the little sister I never had, and the rest of us can't afford to lose you, especially Skorge. That guy's a real mental case, I mean, I was there when he tortured that Tai Kaliso guy."

Coquelicot tightened a few bolts as he soon strapped it to his arm. Stizza got up and moved his prosthetic around testing to see if it functioned properly.

"I think the burns of my face aren't interfering with my regeneration, they should be healing up easily now."

Kandace began walking away as Stizza heard locusts talking about the emergence of a human threat. He leaned near and took a good listen to what their were saying. They mentioned someone by the name of Zacharias Finch, a ruthless bounty hunter who worked for the main researchers of the Gemini Rebirth facility. Unlike the actions of Samson Kirkhend, using cross-breeding to make ruthless killing machines in the original Gemini project, Ivan Selos would torture and experiment on the hybrids instead. These tortures that led to Stizza losing his arms, and Kandace's infertility. The very mention of his name made his blood boil with an unsatisfied rage, despite his relaxed and easygoing behavior. He had to tell the others. Now.

He took off to the shooting range somewhere across the infirmary, where he found some of the snipers trying their luck against the Crimson Eagle-Eye, Clarity Lockehart. She was a child prodigy of sorts. Despite being of 15 years of age, she had one of the deadliest aims with a sniper rifle to have ever been speculate by the locust. Mostly because her enhanced vision which happened to have only been improved due to the circumstances when she was a child in which she had lost her other eye, shielded by one half of her hair.

Her eye had been blinded a long time ago in an effort her and her sister, Sanguine made to save their parents from Prescott's men. They had slashed a hunting knife at her and managed to slice her eye blindside her for a moment before they immediately fled, but they had made one fatal mistake that day. They should have blinded both of them.

She wanted revenge, and to compensate her disability, the medical theron Coquelicot had prepared a concoction to prematurely bring out her hybrid capabilities, and enhance the vision of her remaining eye, but due to the loss of the other one, it had a boost, if you will.

With her newfound power, she and her sister trained and made preparations to take down the men who brutally murdered the humans who decided to raise their bastard children like proper people. With Clarity's range, and Sanguine's brute force, they had tracked down all three of those soldiers and slain them in front of their families as well. While Sanguine and Clarity had both felt a huge weight lift off from their spirits, Clarity however had developed something that no other locust had. A conscience.

She had the images of screaming wives and children burned into her psyche, and the guilt was crushing her humane side, while the other screamed into her mind for more bloodshed. To ensure that the voices would cease to exist, she had turned herself over to isolation and sheltered herself away at New Hope Facility. To surround herself with monsters that were just as dangerous. Years to come and word was that humans, specifically Delta squad, were coming to investigate on some ways to finding the Locust queen at Nexus, and felt her heart sank into an everlasting realm of fear.

She heard constant footsteps in the hallways and became accepting of her fate, she curled into one of the corners and was approached by a figure, a young girl who had a fragile demeanor with a gentle voice and skin as white as snow. It had been a younger Kandace, who too had strayed from the ecstatic instinct of killing mankind, due to the immense fear of losing her closest ally since RAAM's reign. She had lost her way and tried finding it back, only to end up here in front of her. She decided to take Clarity with her to save her from being shot by the same group of people known for the light mass bombing, and she had owed her loyalty ever since.

"... And now you owe me another helping of rockworm meat!"

One of the drones snorted angrily as he tossed his rifle onto the ground and stomped away, under the belief he at least stood one chance against her. Stizza gave her a small smile, glad at how a wreck of a child evolved into such an optimistic soldier on or off of the battlefield. All because their commander saved her from suffering the lifestyle of anxiety, isolation, and depression. Stizza felt a large hand pat him on the back and turned to see his brother, Oxblood.

"I'm glad that friendliness is still a thing in war."

Clarity watched as the crowd of locust went to go carry on with other tasks as Clarity turned to see them standing there.

"Hello Stizza, Oxblood, what are you doing here?"

"I have felt the ominous news that Zacharias Finch had been spotted near here. You remember him don't you?"

Clarity's face turned from positive to seriously disturbed in an instant as she heard the mention of his name.

"You can't be serious..."

"I am."

"Well, haven't you at least told Kandace yet? Where did you even hear this!?"

"From shock troopers near the infirmary. Besides, I don't plan on informing Kandace on Zacharias until she's fully healed."

"Yeah... She'd snap..."

Stizza folded his arms and looked upwards towards the palace curiously.

"Is Skorge torturing the humans perhaps?"

"I don't know. That's how he relieves stress, right?"

Clarity noticed that Skorge had approached Stizza and Oxblood from behind and Clarity darted her eyes around nervously.

"I've heard mentions of a groundwalker known as Zacharias Finch. Care to explain?"

Stizza backed away from him slowly and put his arms at his sides, alongside Clarity.

"He's nothing much. Just a human."

"Actually, to put it bluntly, he's a bounty hunter who was involved in the torture of us hybrids."

Skorge glared at Stizza intrigued as Stizza leaned back uncomfortably.

"Really? I say that maybe I should personally meet this bounty hunter."

Skorge laughed as he licked the teeth of his chainsaw staff as the others watched awkwardly.

"But... He isn't a slouch, he has tons of mercenaries."

Skorge raised his chainsaw staff and jabbed Stizza a bit in the neck, he shivered at the cold metal piercing against his neck, feeling the inner psychotic nature that Skorge possessed.

"I never asked for your opinion, Crimson soldier. Is that clear?"

"Y-yes, sir."

"Good."

Skorge had left the three and decided to take matters into his own hands, for more than one reason that was needed. Clarity suggested that they decided that they should soon tell Kandace about this before things might possibly go sour.


	6. Old Wounds

Much later, at a nearby camping sight nearby, hired mercenaries, of course paid by Zacharias, sitting around a fire and drinking alcohol. They were talking about their latest kills or their sex lives. Zacharias himself was looking at his latest targets on the sheet of paper, and saw a peculiar name that intrigued him.

"So, the little bitch is alive, eh?"

One of the mercenaries looked up at him curiously.

"Who?"

"Kandace Kirkhend, the woman with Kantus attributes and red hair? Have you forgotten so easily?"

One of the soldiers listened to Zacharias explain his previous encounter years ago.

"She was one of those kids, recently dragged into this war. She was 15 or 16 years old, and my other men had gone to slay her. Word is that they were killed, stab wounds covering their bodies."

Suddenly he became serious and spoke in a more solemn tone.

"Last time I saw her, one of the Queen's guards was with her, protecting her from COG soldiers, cut one of em straight in half."

Zacharias pointed onto the eyepatch covering his left eye. It was black and had a white pattern of a bleeding heart, perhaps signifying the loss of his eye.

"Crazy bastard she was with took my eye out too."

However, unknown to them off in the distance, Skorge was watching, ready to slaughter all in his path just to get to Zacharias, quietly. Running in without a plan was about as stupid as sticking your hand into the cage of a bloodmount. Besides, these were trained soldiers, mercenaries, or anyone who had an experience with dealing with his subordinates before.

Upon making his first step he had been distracted by a soldier who had a pistol in his hand seeming incredibly nervous backing away slowly. Skorge approached him before slicing him in half. The other soldiers at the fire became quickly unsettled seeing the sudden flash of red and screams of agony, anxious to check out what happened. About two or so headed up the trail too see what transpired and their blood went cold seeing the soldier torn in half, and no one there.

"Didn't Zacharias mention this in his story?"

"Shit! Do you think that... thing was coming back?"

The soldiers jumped a bit hearing multiple sounds that were making them panic behind their helmets. One of them headed to run and watched as Skorge jumped from a tree and land in front of him, the other ran but slipped on mud and rolled down the trail injuring his ankle. He crawled over as Zacharias approached him annoyed.

"What the hell are you doing?"

""The... Locust... He..."

Zacharias watched blankly as the mercenary stuttered as he tried to get up.

"Spit it out, boy."

"...The High Priest..."

Zacharias threw the flask he was drinking from on the ground shattering the glass as he grabbed him by the neck and pulled him towards him looking him in the eyes menacingly.

"You listen up, there is no High Priest. If he was, he'd be with that goth lolita brat of a child!"

Out of the corner of Zacharias's remaining eye, he saw a figure standing a few meters away from them.

"Zacharias! We have unfinished business, you and I!"

Zacharias bared his teeth in anger and clenched his fists as he recognized it was indeed Skorge, who had come back to finish what had started long ago. Skorge threw one of the corpses aside as he leaped down to confront him. The other soldier tried to get away, and Skorge let him. This was no longer about anyone else, just him and Zacharias.

"So you're alive? Listen, I don't know where your weird hybrid... thing is."

Skorge grabbed him by the neck and dragged him over to him.

"She's fine, I'm just contemplating what I should do to you. I am aware of what you had done to her after I was absent."

Zacharias signed in anger as he hung his head back.

"Shit. I'm gonna die aren't I? Well let me ask you something... What makes you more different than me?"

Skorge loosened his grip and tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"What?"

"All I do is kill and bring back grubs like you, your allies, the usual. You, on the other hand, kill and sadistically torture whoever pisses you off, be it physically or mentally."

"...Shut your mouth."

"Why don't you tell me about how the other locust fear you? Why's that?

Skorge was fed up with this human and threw him towards the hard soil and raised his chainsaw staff ready to impale him, when he felt the sudden grip on one of his shoulders. Still enraged about the reminding of his past mistakes, he snapped and turned his head in an instant and hissed, before realizing that Kandace had been the one who had approached him. Skorge would then stop what he had been doing.

"I... Didn't see you there."

"I've seen you react worse to people."

Zacharias realized that probably wasn't going to die. Not now at least.

"Damn, she's STILL alive? At least her sense of fashion's changed. How old are you now?"

"18."

He saw that Skorge and Kandace were discussing most what should be decided over what was going to happen to his battered body, and whatnot. For a fair amount of time, he even kept quiet throughout it.

"Anyways, you shouldn't hold onto whatever got between you."

"This isn't about ME, I'm doing this for YOU, Kandace."

Kandace seemed to blush a bit as she's released her grip and looked down a bit.

"O-Oh... You didn't need to do that, Skorge."

Zacharias raised an eyebrow and sat up.

"Wait a minute... You two are... Christ."

"Can you shut up? This is a personal matter, Zacharias."

"Well, really? He's your type of guy? How do you act all lovey without immediately feeling repulsed? "

Skorge pushed him back down with his foot, weighing him down to keep him quiet.

"She actually thinks I'm rather charming, thank you very much."

Afterwards they had some palace guards show up to whisk away Zacharias and the others to be tortured or work labour. Kandace was standing away feeling less stressed now that she had finally let go of the burden eating away at her soul.

-

14 A.E

In the outskirts of an abandoned city, Skorge had brought some of his soldiers due to a mission to eliminate COG forces to take their territory for himself. His surroundings looked incredibly gloomy. It had dark buildings, a lot of them crumbling, the windows were smashed too. It certainly didn't help that it was night at this time too.

He managed to hear the sounds of gun fire coming nearby and assumed perhaps someone had beaten him to the job, RAAM perhaps. He guessed it wouldn't help to add some assistance and made his way to a building which looked similar to a regular apartment building, inside and out.

Opening the door the floor was sticky with blood and was slightly littered with the bodies of humans, he heard loud footsteps upstairs and made his way up curious of what could possibly have occurred before his arrival. He opened a door in one off the hallways, the dimly lit room was illuminated by the light coming from a candle in the hall.

What Skorge had walked into was a soldier with a knife being jabbed into his chest by... a young girl? She had been alarmed by this and stood up eyes darting nervously. She fumbled her switch blade seeing this prominent leader standing in the doorway.

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't do much, promise!"

"What do you think you're doing?"

She lowered her switchblade as Skorge approached her, looking at what kind of absurd outfit she had been wearing. She was wearing some black dress with light frills at the end of the sleeves, the fabric that went from her neck to the lower part of her collar bone was dyed white, and had a pretty lace bow that was black as well.

"What kind of armor is this?"

"It's clothing. Gothic lolita to be exact. It looks pretty."

"There don't seem to be any injuries on you. Why's that?"

Skorge suddenly noticed that there was a cut on her hand, and it seemed to be slightly glowing as it closed up like it had never happened at all. This child could regenerate? She attached something to her waist as Skorge watched curiously.

"I went to retrieve something and I was attacked. So, I... killed them."

Skorge noticed that there was a book strapped to her waist, he reached out and took it. Scrolling through the pages, he saw writing and pictures of various locust, weapons, and beasts. After seeing enough he simply closed the book and handed it back to her.

"My father wrote this. It got stolen for information, but I got it back. You like it?"

"It's certainly... interesting. But tell me, what is a human looking girl like you doing taking down humans?

"Oh, I'm both, actually."

Skorge examined her, she had similar features to a locust kantus like the pale skin, and fangs, her eyes were a bright shade of gold. But everything else seemed like how he had seen normal humans.

"Kantus, I presume."

"Y-Yes. You look like one too."

"Exactly. I'm the High Priest, Skorge."

She held her book close, unsure of telling him her name. But soon gave in knowing she could possibly trust him.

"K-Kandace..."

"A kantus with the name of Kandace. Strange."

She looked away seeming a little annoyed, perhaps hearing this statement more than once.  
"How old are you? You look a little young to be fighting these humans."

"I'm about 15."

Skorge tugged at her arm a bit, ready to escort her to the other higher ranks to showcase his discovery and wonder what should be done with her.

Outside of the palace, Skorge had brought this strange child where Myrrah and RAAM had been waiting outside patiently. Skorge pushed her ahead and she looked a little confused seeing so many weird creatures.

"Hmm? Who's this?

"A girl. She's a mix of both human and locust apparently. She can regenerate as well."

RAAM stood in front of her and slightly yanked at her bright red hair. With an intrigued look on his face. He hadn't seen such a spectacle throughout this war.

"So what do you plan on doing with her?"

"Perhaps we can cut her open? You stated she could regenerate, so I believe we could find out what makes her do that so we can enhance our soldiers? You'll do that will you, Skorge?"

Skorge looked a little hesitant at first but he sighed and bowed to show his loyalty. He escorted her away. At one of the torture rooms he laid her on one of the tables and noticed she seemed rather accepting of her fate.

"What's the matter?"

"It doesn't matter. It's not like I mean anything anyways."

"What?"

"My entire life I've been abused by my parents, other humans, and now locusts. I hate it..."

Skorge thew his tools aside and helped her back up, opened the door for her. She turned a head to him confused at this sudden generosity. From someone who had seen so fierce.

" 'Kandace', was it? You can leave. I'm sparing you."

"But why?"

"Because no child should have to deal with what you've been through."

Kandace walked out as Skorge followed close behind her as the others looked seeing him daring to defy Myrrah's orders.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Myrrah crossed her arms approaching the two in one of the palace's hallways.

"My queen, I refuse to hurt this child. She has done nothing wrong here and I will ensure she is safe."

She sighed frustratedly as she pressed her hand against the side of her face.

"Fine. Just take her on training and see if she's worth keeping.

Skorge felt relieved as he rested a hand on the child's head who was near him.

"I'll make sure it happens."

He had plans on how she was going to perform in battle, so he took her to the surface to see where they could start. Perhaps they could slaughter some thieves? They really didn't seem so tough. Or perhaps some armorless stranded? It was neither, as Skorge saw a gun shot whizz by and hit a nearby stone to his left. A man with a sniper rifle took a cigarette out if his mouth as he walked towards them reloading it with ease.

"Listen, I don't want trouble, I'm just here for the girl."

He grabbed the young Kandace by her short hair as she struggled to get free she got a swift slap to the side of her face. Skorge raised his chainsaw staff and pointed it at the man, ready to cut him open.

"You don't understand do you? She's a freak. I'm taking her so we can experiment on her. You see, my name is Zacharias. Zacharias Finch. I'm a bounty hunter."

"I don't care what you plan on doing to her, I'll tear out your innards."

He pulled out his lancer rifle and swung it at Skorge before he easily apprehended him by counterattacking him and knocked the rifle out of his hands, and knocking him onto the ground, slicing his eye open in the process. Zacharias swore watching Skorge taking Kandace by the hand and leaving him on the cold rock outside.

-

CURRENT DAY

"Well you were spacing out there, weren't you?"

Kandace shook her head, snapping herself out of her trance as she noticed Skorge at her side.

"I was just clinging on to the memories we used to share so many years ago."

"Yeah. It's been 2 or 3 years since I found you killing that soldier."

Kandace smiled a bit as she looked down and looked at her pendant.

"To think the only thing that could bring out the sweeter side of you was just a tortured little girl."

Skorge placed a hand on her shoulder and stroked her hair.

"And I'll always protect you. Don't forget that."

They headed back to the locust palace talking about the past and all the things that had happened. Upon arriving there, Kandace's squad mates were relieved seeing that they both came back safe, and were greeted by Coquelicot.

"I'm glad you two arrived back safely."

Kandace waved to her colleagues as her and Skorge left to report to Myrrah.


	7. Natural Born Killer

_**An: so, remember when I said I was adding fanon lore from my buddies? IT'S ABOUT THAT TIME! HUEHEUEHHUEHEU**_

Before Kandace headed towards the trail to the locust palace, Stizza gripped onto her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks.

"Do you mind if I talk with you for a quick second?"

Kandace sighed as she signalled Skorge to head off without her, he rolled his eyes as he made his way into the palace as Stizza and Kandace were discussing things.

"I'm surprised you're still in one place, me and the others were worried."

Kandace folded her arms upon hearing those words, why did they feel the need to be worried? She knew that Zacharias was a resilient force, but she also felt safe in the arms of her guardian lover, Skorge.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"We just don't trust you with a psychopath."

Kandace sighed in anger, due to the fact she had heard the same statement countless times. It was more of an annoyance seeing as she spent a lot of time with him, from acquaintances, to close allies, and lovers when she escaped from her captors at the age of 18.

"Relax, he's only vicious to humans."

"And that's the problem! You, me, Clarity and her sister, are CROSSBRED. We still have the lingering scents of humans! Speaking of which he threatened to decapitate me. Again."

"Well, you should loosen up more around him."

Stizza shot her a cold glare. He wasn't a hateful person, but he preferred it when Kandace was a much more violent woman, the leader he could easily look up to. He missed that fun side of her.

"I don't know if you remember, but a while back he did a lot of cruel things to us locust too. Like with the T'Chark worshippers, the princess, I just can't trust you with him, you know?"

Kandace jabbed him in the chest with a sharp claw-like fingernail.

"You're not my father, you're my lieutenant! Don't tell me what I can or cannot do. Is that clear?"

Stizza looked away upset, he didn't realize how harsh he sounded coming from Kandace's point of view. He knew about the bond they shared, but he was more concerned about the safety of the freak who's sole purpose was to kill and slaughter. He felt like an older brother around her, he even wondered if they were originally going to be siblings a couple of times.

"...Yes."

"Good. Oh, mind if I ask something? What's a 'T'Chark?'"

Stizza raised an eyebrow and rested a hand on the back of his head. He didn't quite know either. Years ago, hybrid Kantus like him weren't allowed to be involved in their religion, he only heard word from other locust about the imprisonment of the zealots.

"Some religious deity. The hierarchy, MIGHT have prohibited it."

"I could talk to them about it if you wanted."

Stizza's eyes went wide upon hearing this. He might have not enjoyed her not being as psychotic, but he surely enjoyed that she had time to assist her friends. He thought the other members of her group enjoyed that too.

"Y-You'd do that?"

Kandace shrugged, her black cloak swaying behind her as she did so, she gave an innocent smile to him.

"Of course I would. Skorge adores me, I'm sure I'll be able to reason with him."

Stizza gave her a gentle pat on the back as they decided to head over to the palace and confront him about this. Stizza had hardly been in there so he never got a good look-around of the area, he probably would've gotten lost quite a bit if Kandace wasn't showing him the way there.

Kandace was making her way around one of the narrow corridors, Stizza felt queasy peering off the edge, seeing that it was a long way down. There was even a corpse being cleaned up down there! It couldn't hurt to at least put a railing or something there so they didn't lose any good soldiers. God, he hated heights.

They met quite a lot of Palace Guards, they tried greeting them as they passed, but the guards simply hissed and walked away. Kandace opened a door and saw a few kantus priests busy scribbling on scrolls made of human skin.

"Hello? I'm looking for High Priest Skorge?"

One of them pointed to his left, leading to a door. Before Kandace got a chance to open it, Skorge flung it open, with what appeared to be bloodstains smeared over his body.

"Sorry about the mess, we ran out of skin for our scrolls. Now tell me what you're doing here?"

Skorge peered out of the corner of his eye and had seen Stizza standing against a wall. Stizza lightly waved to him, and Skorge glared, hissing back at him.

"Stizza..."

"Skorge..."

Kandace sighed looking around nervously, one of the only reasons that the two kantus close to her didn't claw each others throats out was because she could easily restrain them from doing anything violent.

"Listen, me and Stizza were having a conversation, and we came to an agreement that perhaps you could um... ease up a bit on the T'Chark worshippers, you know?"

Skorge had a sinister smile on his face, Stizza feeling a bit uneasy watched as Skorge looked as if he hadn't been taking this seriously at all.

"You're joking... right?"

"Not really."

"Well, I'm afraid I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Reasons that your group wouldn't understand, I mean you aren't the religious type, and you really aren't dedicated to Myrrah like the rest of us are."

It was sort of the truth here. There were only about two kantus in their little squad, and they didn't really care for religious matters. But one thing was for sure, they did worship the real blood reaper, Samael.

"Anyways, I don't have time for this nonsense."

"So you can imprison and mistreat them for their beliefs but you spared me for being a freak!? What sense does that make? When I was 16 would you have kicked me around if I was a worshipper too!?"

Skorge had a grim look of guilt on his face, he hadn't thought of that, and felt bad about it. The fact that he'd saved one and left others to suffer never crossed his mind, even he didn't know how that made sense. He remained in a depressive silence as he went back into the torture room and closed the door behind him as Stizza began to walk away from the scenario.

"Kandace, you coming?"

"I'll stay here in case Skorge needs some company."

The prison cells were brutal, rusted metal and blood coated a majority of the floor. Zacharias sat on the floor looking at the rope around his wrists, he had just been beaten senselessly by locusts, and had some pretty nasty scars from it. He sat pondering his escape route when her saw something forming in a crack in the floor, something spewing a gold liquid in a small puddle before a creature looking quite similar to a leech squirmed out.

"What's this? Some type of glowworm?

He picked it up and noticed it was secreting imulsion. He got startled a bit and dropped it, watching it wriggle on the floor a bit. Zacharias looked out the bars and suddenly had heard a voice.

"I beg your pardon, but could you refrain doing that?"

He looked around confused, he hadn't heard of any locust with a voice like that, so it couldn't be a locust nearby, and he was pretty sure the cells next to him were empty.

"Turn around. Down here you pompous moron."

Zacharias thought that the torture simply broke him, he'd just gone crazy. There was no way that that little thing was talking to him right now, he scooped it up and looked confused at the thing resting in his palm.

"Just... What are you?"

It tried to sort of... almost... stood up with a regal posture as it's big yellow eyes darted around the cell.

"I am the Vazeera parasite, I seem to have lost my previous host. Say, you look available..."

Zacharias poked it with his finger, keeping it from pouncing on him.

"Listen, you foul worm, I don't know who or what a Vazeera is, but I'm trying to get even with the bastards that locked me up in here. If only I had a way out..."

"Hm? By whom?"

"That creep Kandace and her little squadron."

"Well, it seems we have common ground here, human."

Zacharias petted the thing and unlatched something from his belt. A flask of water, he began emptying it and poured water on the ground.

"So Vaz, you got any bright ideas to get out?"

"Sort of, I say, put me in the flask and throw it down the right of your cage door."

Zacharias popped Vazeera in his flask and rested it on the ground, he lightly kicked it, hard enough to send it careening to where a hook that held the key. Vazeera slithered out and inched his way up the wall, leaving imulsive residue as he did so.

He leaped up and caught the key in his mouth and started crawling his way back when he heard the sudden ominous footsteps of a locust drone coming down the stairs. He picked up the pace and spat the key on the floor in front of his human ally, before trailing up his arm.

"You, prisoner, what's this disgusting mess on the floor?"

"Oh, nothing much."

Zacharias leaned close to the door before unlocking the door and headbutting the drone, sending him spiraling to the floor unconscious. Vazeera chewed through the bindings around his wrists. He stretched his arms as he opened the door and picked up the hammerburst on the floor. He strapped on his onyx-coloured armor and picked up the flask along the way, popping Vazeera back in there, heading out the door.

Skorge opened the door and noticed Kandace in the doorway, grateful for her loyalty and trust while he wiped the blood off his hands.

"You feeling alright?"

"I'm fine, I just rarely feel guilt that cripples me like that."

Sanguine, Clarity's much older sister peered up from behind Kandace. She held out a sheet with some classified documents before leaving quickly. Kandace flipped through the pages quickly analyzing the data on the papers before glancing upwards.

"Well. It appears that my father wasn't murdered. I just don't know what to feel..."

"Are you going to do anything about it?"

"Perhaps. I mean, I hate him, but he's still my dad."

Kandace nonchalantly tossed the papers over her shoulder, and grabbed Skorge by the hand who looked confused about the whole ordeal.

"Well, come on!" I think he'd be pretty happy to see you, right?"

Skorge nodded still confused as Kandace pulled him alongside her.

Grubs were being gunned down one by one Zacharias had a deadly arsenal on his hands. As he made his way out to a stranded camp nearby, the sounds of locusts growling and roaring behind him seemed satisfactory as he saw that there was a transport happening between some Soldiers and a stranded camp. Zacharias stopped in his tracks as Vazeera slithered past his ear.

"Hm? You've got an idea?"

Zacharias laughed as he climbed aboard one of their vehicles, a centaur to be exact, and hijacked it while the others weren't looking. He kicked it into high gear as he drove away hearing swearing from a bunch of frustrated humans. He was going to make sure that his new comrade had a host to feed off of, and it wasn't going to be him.

Skorge and Kandace reached the surface, the sun shining on the dew of the grass on a field nearby, and the warm wind gave a relaxing comfort to the both of them. Skorge looked around the trail as Kandace was facing a steep hill, not a one steep enough to kill her, but it would do a hefty amount of damage. The sudden noise of a vehicle began to make her eyes dart with confusion she rapidly turned her head to see, the driver of the vehicle. Zacharias escaped, and her heart sunk.

She failed.

Zacharias quickly turned the cliff, knocking her off balance, as she fell backwards, in too much of a shock to say anything. She tumbled down, as the last thing she saw before hitting a rock that knocked her into unconsciousness, was Skorge reaching out to grab her.

Ears ringing as her eyes slowly opened she woke up somewhere that she hadn't seen before in her life. The room's walls and ceiling were painted eggshell white, and the floor had a blue carpet. There was a ceiling fan, and it was mesmerizing to stare at for some reason. She picked up the sound of humans, two of them, talking amongst themselves.

She sat up as she noticed she wasn't wearing the clothes she had before, but what seemed to be a shirt that was too large for her size, and it had a logo to a band she hadn't heard about before. Startled and nervous, she stood to her feet and opened the door, seeing a figure in the kitchen.

"Hey mama! The strange lady's awake!"

Kandace jolted and turned behind her seeing a little girl with black curls in her hair. Apparently some humans decided to nurse her back to health. How... strange... The woman in the kitchen scooped up her daughter and gave Kandace a warm smile.

"You feeling better, hon?"

Kandace coughed nervously as she slightly nodded, slowly sitting down on a chair nearby. She noticed that the clothes she had wore before rested on the table, looking freshly clean.

"There was a lot of blood, so I cleaned it off. It's strange, I went to dress your wound when I found you and there was nothing there..."

Kandace winced as she picked up her clothes off the counter and left to dress herself, slipping on her striped thigh-highs, silky tattered dress, and cloak as black as coal. It smelled nice. She watched as this matronly human was fixing breakfast for her and her daughter, it seemed.

"If you want, you can stay for breakfast."

She was hungry, but the last thing she wanted to do was accept help from a human, she glanced to her away, neglecting her hunger.

"I'm not keen on taking food from humans."

"Oh? I take it you're not human then?"

"...I'm both."

She placed two plates of toast and bacon on the table for her and her daughter.  
She layer one out on an oak table in front of where Kandace was standing.

"Well, you should make sure to have enough energy to get back to wherever you came from,"

"Yeah... I probably should, thanks, um..."

"June. My daughter's name is Abby."

Kandace sunk her fangs into the toast on the plate, it didn't taste like anything she had in the Hollow or Nexus before. Maybe she'll spare these two when her species conquers Sera.

"My name is Kandace."

June noticed the pendant attached to her cloak, the locust emblem, she peered back up to see that a locust with features like hers was quite the spectacle. Abby finished up her meal and tugged playfully tugged on Kandace's arm. She gave her a light pat on the head and stood up.

"Anyways, I should leave. I've got someone important waiting for.

"Alright then, just make sure that you don't get hurt out there."

Kandace opened the front door and saw multiple houses, filled with more humans. A stranded camp? She looked confused and turned to see one of them heading towards her, with a gun.

"You there. State your business."

"I don't know! I got injured and woke up here!"

He aimed his gun at her, his boltok pistol fully loaded.

"Wrong answer, grub."

June burst through the door and intervened in a panic. Kandace needed to get out as soon as possible. Now.

"She speaks the truth! I had no clue she was a locust! She was just leaving as a matter of fact. If I knew she was a locust I would have left her!"

Those words stung her. She guessed there really was no such thing as humans who show locust kindness. Did she treat her because she didn't want to get killed? Or maybe turn her in to researchers. Before she had time to react to this, a gunker launched an explosive imulsive fireball at their direction.

The Lambent had started an attack on the camp. Drudges and lambent wretches starting an assault on the stranded there, Kandace included. She drew her rifle and leapers forward. Kicking a lambent wretch in the bottom of it's jaw, feeling teeth come lose as she did so. A drudge hurled vomit and she flipped out the way, barely grazing her. She sliced its belly, spilling it's contents all over the soil.

Kandace had noticed out of the corner of her eye, a gasoline tank, perfect for starting wildfires. She aimed her rifle and fired a round into the tank, and a fiery explosive consumed the landscape, setting it ablaze. June, miraculously surviving, crawled out from under some rubble with Abby trying to assist her, crying hysterically. June crawled out to see Kandace sitting above a drudge corpse, legs crossed.

"W...Why did you do this? Everyone's dead!"

Kandace turned a cold eye to June, before crouching beside her.

"Because, you're the same as every human."

"Y-you don't think I meant that right? My God... I'm sorry..."

June began weeping as Kandace stood up and quickly shot her in the head, with Abby watching, in a shocked silence. Kandace turned around to leave, but before doing that she left with one phrase directed towards Abby.

"If you come back to kill me in the future, I'll understand."

Making her way back up the mountain trail, she ran into Skorge, who became relieved knowing she was safe.

"I saw the fire, and I got worried. Are your wounds healed?"

"Y...Yeah I'm fine, I don't want to talk about it..."


	8. The Rise of the Blood Reaper

_**AN: GUESS WHAT? SAMAEL MAKES HIS DEBUT.**_

 _ **This was the point so far where I am currently writing my new chapter. Be patient M8**_

Coquelicot was observing his cabinet. There was a lot of empty vials and syringes sitting inside. The Theron medic mumbled to himself as he saw his supply was empty.

Coquelicot was part of the same clan of warriors that Kandace and her group was part of. However, he wasn't quite the fighter. He was more passive and wanted to help people more than to hurt them, so he had opened up his own clinic. He took care of more serious injuries like poison, burns, and sometimes wounds if a kantus weren't around.

He wore all red, and his helmet was fitted with horns on the side. Preferably to give him a more menacing look.

"Hello Co, you had called for us?"

Stizza, Clarity, Sanguine and Oxblood had greeted Coquelicot as he wiped his hands off and sat back.

"Yes. I appear to be out of medicine, specifically for Lambency immunity. If Vazeera lives, then we have to ensure that we have enough soldiers."

Stizza crossed his arms looking around at the empty supplies sprawled all over the counters.

"So you want us to get more? Easy enough."

"It WOULD be, if not for the traps, other hazards, savages, and the rumors of the pedestal near where the flowers are being the same place where the Blood Reaper resides."

Stizza held an awkward silence as a look of concerned dread grew on his face. Sanguine turned to see if Kandace was going to arrive soon.

"So, where is our leader?"

Clarity nudged her a bit before handing a note Kandace had issued to her colleagues earlier. Apparently she was killing humans, the usual occupation. Oxblood peeked over Sanguine's shoulder and read the note.

"I see she's killing humans again?"

Oxblood was basically Stizza's half-brother, after his real parents abandoned Stizza (and yes, he did have arms), he had crawled back into some cave in the hollow. Most of the other children mocked him for his unusual blend of genetics. However, the parents of Oxblood took Stizza in and raised him like their own.

Stizza grew to be a reliable force to be reckoned with, like Kandace's regeneration, and Clarity's enhanced sight, Stizza had fireproof skin. Around 15 A.E, Stizza had gotten word that there were more hybrids, that looked more human. Stizza had more prominent fangs, and other features similar to your average kantus. Only a few features of him resembled anything close to human.

Oxblood and Stizza at that time had reached elite classes, Stizza's armor prototype was that of an armored kantus, and very little got the chance to wear it, Oxblood was moved up to the ranks of a mauler boomer. Despite him being a boomer he was surprisingly strategic, and had a much friendlier side.

"Co, where happens to be this floral wildlife?"

"In the savage camps where even we don't tread."

Clarity slung her rifle over her shoulder and playfully nudged Stizza and Oxblood.

"Well? Should we be going?"

Stizza sighed and mumbled under his breath before signalling which way to go.

The road seemed perilous enough as it is, there were twigs and withering trees everywhere. Stizza looked around his environment, and peered at the grass nearby.

"I don't like the looks of this."

"Why's that?"

"Enemies could ambush us at any moment."

Stizza kept a close eye on his surroundings, with his sense heightened. Before hearing the grass rustle a bit, Stizza turned around quickly to see a savage grenadier loaded with a hammerburst roll out and start rapidly firing.

Stizza jumped out of the line of fire, as Clarity reloaded the boltok pistol strapped to her side and shot at the savage trying to keep him distracted as Oxblood knocked his weapons out of his hands.

The savage grenadier fell backwards and Oxblood picked him up with one hand by the neck.

"Where are the others?"

He said nothing except making low gurgling noises so he dropped him on the ground. The savage reached behind him as the pistol he had made a clicking noise as he began drawing it only to meet a boot kicking him hard in the face, breaking several teeth in the process.

The savaged lied crippled on the ground spitting blood as Sanguine rested the bottom of her boot on his head.

"That will teach you to draw a weapon on us."

Clarity discovered an edge of a steep cliff to see a camp surrounded by wire, and other savage locusts. Clarity signalled to the others to get down out of their sights while she did her work. She loaded her sniper rifle and took aim and steadied her focus as she fired a bullet into one of their heads.

Alerted, the savages grunted and issued orders to attack them. Stizza rolled down the cliff goring several savages on his spines in the process. He drew his two Gorgon pistols strapped to his sides and started firing at them hitting them in their most vital regions.

Stizza heard the sound of a savage boomer behind him, hearing the digger fire a shit near the ground behind him, Stizza could only try to block the blast with his arms, causing severe injury to the mechanisms.

With his prosthetics jammed, Stizza was backed against a wall, but thankfully Oxblood punched the boomer into the cold dirt.

"Stizza, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, I just-"

Stizza tried moving his arms but the wiring and other parts were severed slightly by the bits of metal stabbing the steel of his prosthetics.

"It's unfortunate Coquelicot isn't here. He'd be able to fix this."

Stizza heard the sound of light footsteps, and crept around the corners to check it out. Much to his surprise, he found a human woman with chains around her wrists and caught in one of the traps.

She had bright green eyes and curly blonde hair, with a pretty blue shirt and blouse, which was stained with dirt, and what seemed to be blood. Stizza kept quiet for a bit as the woman stumbled back, obviously in fear.

Stizza removed his the spiked helmet of his armor revealing his more human facial features, and hair. Stizza began speaking slightly nervous to try and calm her.

"Uh... H-Hi."

"Y-you aren't like them..."

"Yeah, I know. I can explain later. Are you alright?"

She nodded slightly, as Stizza eyed the chains around her wrists.

"I could help with that."

"R-Really?"

Stizza tried raising his arms but the straps on his shoulders gave away as they dropped onto the ground. At that time, the others had seen what was going on.

"What happened to your arms?"

"I...uh... lost them..."

"Doing what?"

"I lost them... fighting for my species like a war hero."

"Actually, he lost them when he was in captivity because he was a delinquent."

Stizza turned back to see Sanguine and the others leaning over him observing the situation.

"What should we do?"

Stizza stood up and looked at his comrades and pointed to the chains around her wrists.

"Get rid of those."

Oxblood eyed the chains and looked back to Stizza.

"Stizza, why? What if she-"

"I- I won't! Everyone's dead anyways!"

Oxblood sighed as he snapped the chains off her cuffs like paper, as well as getting the cuffs themselves off as well. Sanguine turned her head to the girl struggling to get up.

"If you're lying, we'll come back for you."

She nodded and started to run away.

"Thank you, Stizza."

"Y-yeah. No problem."

She fled from the scene as soon as she had appeared. Stizza hoped she would appear again soon.

They continued on their way only before seeing a fairly long set of stairs which lead to an area with a fence. The way up seemed excruciating when they noticed how far up it was.

Clarity took the first couple steps up and looked back at the others.

"Come on! It ain't gonna go up itself!"

The others groaned as they followed impatiently. At the top of the stairs,they saw the gate of the fence locked by a padlock. Clarity picked the lock humming to herself as she unlatched it, opening it as it made an eerie creaking noise.

It was some sort of cemetery, complete with tombstones and fog. They went inside and looked around before seeing a church settling in front of the field where the ingredients were.

As the opened the doors, there wasn't any pews to be seen and there were bodies, both human and locust, sprawled all over the floor.

They were horrified to notice that they had been drained of all their blood. Somehow they knew that something somewhere was watching them. They felt the air turn cold and turned around to see a creature emerge out of a puddle of blood settling on the marble floor. It was a reaper.

Instead of the traditional black coloured armour it wore, it was coloured red, and had too fairly large, blood-coated spikes sticking out of the shoulder plates.

As the others panicked, the reaper decided to stretch it's limbs and back, seeming quite relaxed, before glancing a hollow eye at the group. Stizza took a calm, small step forward hoping it wouldn't retaliate.

"Has it been a decade already? Who are you people?"

"We're just here to get something. Flowers."

"Hmm? Why?"

"Lambency immunity, considering that there's an outbreak."

"Lambency? Go right ahead."

With a flick of his wrist, the back door whipped open, and a warm breeze filled the room. They looked outside to see a field full of them. Glowing with a pinkish-purple hue. Oxblood loaded some into his sack as the others looked around at how neat and serene it looked. After they had a large quantity of the flora and fauna there, they turned to leave before seeing the reaper following behind them.

"You don't mind if I follow don't you?"

"W-why?"

"Because you guys seem familiar with your red armour and such."

"Yeah, our leader makes us wear these colours. She's busy as of now."

"Really? Take me to her then!"

"Alright. But we don't want you to be seen."

"Very well."

Checking the bloodstains coating her clothes, Kandace relaxed back at her home, laying back on some of the furniture she filched from humans a long while back. Skorge leaning beside her, eyeing the gash on her knee.

"You shouldn't be so reckless, I know you like murdering humans, but with a frail body like yours you could be susceptible to severe injuries!"

"Yeah, I know. I can regenerate anyways. But how am I supposed to know they had wire traps?"

Skorge sighed as Kandace stood up and unlatched her cloak, and turned to go upstairs.

"I'm gonna change my clothes. Something without blood on it at the very least."

Skorge felt a little uncomfortable being in the house that resembled something close to the residence a human would own. Having it be owned by his lover barely helped the situation, no matter how inhumanely she acted.

She came back down wearing a black sweater and skirt. Something she rarely wore around other locust. She sat back down with Skorge and rested her head near his shoulder. Skorge looked down and stroked her hair gently.

"I have never seen you wear this before. Is it a new set of 'armor'?"

Skorge jested as Kandace laughed and turned her head up a bit.

"Yes, because it would be SO effective." In all seriousness, I wear these when I relax here."

Skorge glanced over see Kandace nuzzling into his chest. He blushed slightly as he looked quite surprised not being used to some of the affection she gave him.

"What's wrong?"

Skorge looked down at her as she smiled at him.

"Nothing. I am not really accustomed to affection. That's all."

Suddenly she turned her head to see the door swing open and Clarity standing in the doorway.

"Where are the others?"

"Stizza's getting his arms repaired, Oxblood and Sanguine are delivering Coquelicot's supplies."

Clarity examined what had been going on between Skorge and Kandace and tilted her head to the side.

"Oh... Was I um... Interrupting?"

Kandace shook her head a bit, and got up.

"No, you weren't interrupting anything. What's the matter?"

Clarity then pulled the reaper beside her and pointed at him jabbing her finger on his chest armor.

"THIS is the matter."

Skorge stared wide-eyed. A reaper? Myrrah said they didn't exist. Was she wrong? He stood up as he turned his eyes to see Kandace looking smug with her arms folded looking at him smiling.

"Well how about that. An actual reaper. How about that Skorge? Was I right or what?"

"Well it's certainly levitating. I can't believe it..."

Kandace jabbed him gently with her elbow.

"So how do you feel about me not knowing that I'm smarter than Myrrah?"

Skorge grabbed Kandace by her shoulders and gave a quick lick to the side of her face.

"Just because you're right doesn't mean you should deserve my hatred. As long as your loyal to our race. Speaking of which I suppose I should tell Myrrah this, I don't think she'll be pleased though."

Skorge soon left as Kandace stood frozen and blushing wildly.

"So! You're the leader of the locusts that entered my chapel?"

Kandace snapped back to reality and her face returned to it's normal snow-white hue and she nodded.

"Yes, I don't look capable but my other outfit's in the wash. So who are you?"

The reaper held out a hand expecting a handshake.

"I'm Samael, the blood reaper."

"Ah, yes! I'm a follower of yours!"

"That's swell I belie-"

Soon a palace guard opened the door and glared at Kandace.

"The queen demands to see the reaper."


	9. Affection

_**AN: new chapter is here! By the way there is some shipping content between my Oc and Skorge, I hope you people don't mind :3**_

The guard led the others to the palace where the queen, Myrrah waited. On the path, Samael turned a head to Kandace who had a worried look on her face, concerned about what would happen should Myrrah want the reaper destroyed. Samael took a good look and glanced quickly to Skorge

"So... Back there. Is that locust your-"

"Y-Yes, he is."

Samael gave a sly smile as Kandace began blushing a bit and hung her head down smiling shyly. At the locust palace many of the guards shot Samael some fearsome glares, he didn't really feel comfortable hanging around a group of soldiers that looked like they were going to fill him with lead.

Myrrah waited outside the palace with her arms folded, she watched as the others made their way up the steps. Myrrah raised an eyebrow in frustration upon seeing Kandace with Skorge and not wearing her normal attire.

"Well, if it isn't the half-breed who decided to turn Skorge against my rule."

"What are you talking about?"

"You convinced him to stop attacking our traitors!"

At that moment Samael hovered up close and snickered.

"Well, maybe if you weren't so uptight they wouldn't have 'betrayed' you in the first place."

Myrrah glared in anger at the witty reaper as she then calmed down and turned to Kandace.

"...And what are you wearing?"

"My other clothes got blood on them. I hope you don't mind."

Skorge shifted his eyes nervously and spoke up.

"A-Anyways, Kandace's clan of... um... hooligans, you might say, found a reaper, a real one."

"Indeed. I serve my Lord, but I don't recall him mentioning serving you, your majesty."

Samael cracked his knuckles as he began resting his hands behind his back.

"Anyway, I'm here early because you are having a epidemic involving Vazeera, yes?"

"Yes, Samael, we require your services."

Samael laughed a bit and called Kandace over and rolled down her sleeve and drew a small sword from his belt. Startled, Kandace jumped back and hastily rolled her sleeve back down as Samael shook his head.

Myrrah and the guards by that time had left, mostly confused. It seems that maybe this reaper wasn't such of a threat after all.

"If you require my services, I need an offering, specifically, blood. I've never had the blood of a hybrid."

She sighed and then held out her arm rolling her eyes, thankfully she was a quick healer. Samael sliced a bit of her arm. As the blood poured out he scooped it in his hand and smeared it into the locust symbol on his chest. It gave an ominous golden glow as Samael felt a surge of his power returning.

"Ah, I feel brand new! Thank you for the assistance, boob-lady."

Kandace stood frozen in her tracks. She hadn't heard someone else address her like that. She sighed with a bit of a smile. She wasn't that angry, after all, considering the situation, humor was the last thing she needed.

"I was just addressing you by your most 'unique' features. Right, Skorge?"

"W-what do you mean?"

Samael slightly nudged and jabbed him with his elbow jokingly as he laughed.

"Relax, I'm just messing with you."

Skorge rolled his eyes at Samael as Clarity came up from behind and rested her hands on their shoulders.

"He speaks his mind a lot, doesn't he?"

"It's my burden to bare."

Samael gave a chuckle as Skorge brushed Samael and Clarity away, and walked over to gently caress the side of Kandace's pale face. She smiled up at him and gently pressed her hands on his shoulders.

"You know, I've been thinking... You don't have a mount or beast of sorts, correct?"

She leaned in against his chest as he held her close and stroked her hair.

"No. Are you going to get me one?"

"Yup, we got I got my hands on a reaver, just for you. It's a real beauty, like you."

"I already got a name. I'm thinking... Vael."

"I don't have it right now, but we can get back to that later."

Kandace giggled as Skorge gently held her hand and felt a slight shiver at the feel of his mildly cold skin and flinched a little.

"Is something wrong?"

"N-no, your skin is just... cold."

"Her appearance is like none I've seen, of both blood human and locust, her child-like demeanor makes her a target for being hunted by the humans, I worry about her fate."

An older-looking Theron was finishing up writing in his journal about the strange new encounter he had found. He turned his head to see the child resting nearby. He got up and left outside his station and roamed the streets of a shantytown of sorts with other soldiers.

"So, Tyrnaz, how's that kid doing?"

"She's doing swell, I think. She isn't really open-minded."

Tyrnaz swung a sack over his shoulder and opened a gate, looking back to his surroundings. Smog-back air, thugs who fought and killed each other if they dared look at them the wrong way, the sooner he found a new home the better. But it wasn't that important right now. What mattered is that he needs new supplies to bring back for the long haul.

Walking along the gravel road, he ventured close to an abandoned nearby supply truck that was used to travel things over for humans. He looked in the crates and salvaged all that he could before heading back relieved. He swung open the door to where he was staying and hadn't found anyone there.

In a panic he ran all over looking for her and opened the door to a bar nearby and found deadly thugs turn their menacing heads to him. Thankfully, the girl he promised to protect was right there and didn't seem to be in any trouble. In fact, she seemed to be mingling with them.

"Hey, Tyrnaz. Isn't this kid yours? Not biologically of course."

"Y-yes. I'm just taking her and leaving."

With a sudden loud bang, Tyrnaz sprung to his feet, and headed out the door to see that COG reinforcements had arrived and started gunning the locust there down. He scooped up the girl in his arms, and started to sprint away. Unfortunately, the gate was locked, with seemingly no way out. Tyrnaz held his breath for a minute and headed inside one of the shelters and opened one of the closets.

"Mr. Tyrnaz, what's going on?"

"Nothing. You just stay in here and don't come out until I say so. This is very serious."

He hissed and left her up there as he rushed down loading his torque bow. She closed the doors of the closet and sat in there, the only sound being her panicked breaths. She heard the loud sounds of gunfire and buried her head in her sleeves.

At night a couple of locust soldiers have come across the shantytown. Bodies upon bodies were laying all over, of both human and locust. One of the kantus opened the door to one of the shelters and called what seemed to be the leader of the group there. He cane over and scanned the are before seeing a small child huddled at the bottom of the stairs.

"You. Care to explain what happened here?"

She curled up and focused an eye on him.

"They're all dead."

He wore sleek dark-purple armor and had cape-like robes draped over his shoulders and were a soft-looking shade of maroon. He had a nasty looking scar across his face and sported spiked shoulder pads and a spiked helm. His eyes were an icy shade of blue.

"Is that true. That seems unfortunate. You seem to be... Much different."

"You too mister..."

"Velous."

She nodded her head as Velous turned his back to her and swung a sword, similar to a cutlass, over his shoulder.

"You won't survive out here you know."

She looked to her side obviously upset.

"But with looks like yours, maybe the humans will ease up on you. Don't worry, hopefully one of my underlings will give you the chance to learn how to survive."

Velous stared at her clothing a little curious why a locust would where such attire.

"You're quite human."

"M-Mister Tyrnaz raised me on people things. But he's gone now..."

Velous patted her head.

"Perhaps I'll teach you how to survive. I can sense you'll be one special warrior."

"No way. You did NOT meet Velous! I know you've met some interesting soldiers, but Velous?"

"Yeah, when I was a kid. What's so special about him?"

"Velous was one of our former high-priests, he got his scars from 'The Battle of a Thousand Human Forces.' I was one of his apprentices."

Kandace had gotten back her original attire on and sat herself beside Skorge resting her head on his shoulder. She ran her hands across his chest as Skorge look back to her.

"I hope one day to surpass Velous's body count."

"I'm sure he would've wanted one of his apprentices to prove themselves worthy."

Skorge caressed the side of her face. He enjoyed the soft feel of her skin.

"The sweetness in your words is one of my favourite things about you."

Skorge gave a gentle and light flick of his forked tongue across Kandace's lips, as she began to blush and hugged Skorge tightly.

"I love you, Skorge."

Skorge held her as close as he could and brushed his hand across the back of her head, blushing as well.

"I feel the same way, my love."

"Damn, Skorge, I didn't know you were so smooth with women!"

Skorge and Kandace turned to see Samael watching nearby with a carefree look on his face, and a pose that made him look like he was laying in a field of daisies.

"H-How long have you been here!?"

"About long enough to see you two about to suck face."

Kandace's face turned red as she bared her fangs.

"Relax, Kandace, I'll handle this. Samael-"

"You undead, perverted, son of a bitch!"

Kandace sighed angrily and turned her head away as Samael and Skorge stared at her, a little surprised at her sudden use of foul language that very few locust spoke. The inside of her chest felt constricted as she found it hard to breathe, as her face flustered.

"A-Are you alright?"

"Just... escort the reaper out of here..."

Skorge nodded as he gave a slap on Samael's back signalling him to go, Samael obliged, a little apologetically as he left and quietly closed the door, giving a small smile doing so.

Skorge turned back to see Kandace with her arms crossed, and still a little agitated.

"Can... We get Vael now?"

At the reaver stables, there were many sorts of unique reavers of sorts. The guards at the stables moved aside and saluted as Skorge walked pasted with his lover close beside him. Walking down the many corridors in this area of Nexus, they came across a pen with a reaver that looked ever so special. It was still a hatchling so it wasn't really ridable.

It had beautiful looking gold streaks on it's underbelly and was curled near the corner of the pen asleep making audible purring sounds.

"You're right, it is beautiful to look at."

Kandace reached inside and picked up the small creature in her arms.

"You're... not supposed to pick it up that way."

Kandace's eyes widened a bit as she felt a sharp pain in her hand as she got startled a bit and dropped Vael. It hissed and scuttled across the floor, only to be grabbed by the legs by Skorge. He gave her a look that showed pride, as Kandace shrugged and laughed a bit.

"I haven't seen a reaver this aggressive, normally I warn the other soldiers because their underbellies are sensitive but this one really doesn't seem to like you."

"Really? Why is that?"

"Your scent is probably too human for it's liking. Younger reavers are much more violent because they don't understand their surroundings yet."

Skorge handed the youngling reaver over to Kandace, as she reached for it, her hand made slight contact with Skorge's and she blushed a bit.

"You blush easily. I find it cute."

"I don't try to be cute, I'll have you know."

She grabbed Vael by the legs and held it triumphantly as Vael squirmed. She saw out of the corner of eye was Samael, looking a little guilty about something.

"Hey um... I wanted to apologize for making you uncomfortable... It's been decades, centuries even since I spoke to someone, so I'm not that good with social skills."

"Y-Yeah... I should be the one to blame. I cussed you out."

"Plus, we're bound by blood now anyways."

Samael cheerfully tapped the crest of his chest-armor as Kandace looked a little concerned about what that meant.

"Basically I temporarily serve you now until Vazeera is eliminated."

Coquelicot finished tightening the last bolt of another repair for Stizza.

"You're such a reckless soldier. One day, you might lose more than an arm."

Stizza sighed and sat back looking quite irritated.

"Speaking of which, I heard you met a girl."

Stizza's face went a little red as he stuttered a bit.

"N-No! It's not like that!"

Stizza gave a hearty laugh as he saw Stizza acting in a way he hadn't really seen from him before. A cyclops peered in and looked at Stizza.

"Stizza? This groundwalker keeps saying you know her. Do you know what is going on?


	10. Fleeing From The Past

**PREQUEL CHAPTER TIME**

The corners felt cramped, walls completely white, and the texture became dull and boring after days on days of confinement. Days, months, years, full of nothing but confusion. Why would humans do this? She was different, that was the only answer for this treatment. Trying to break out was one of the last things she wanted to do, after what happened to... the other one.

She clutched the area where her womb would have been, silently sobbing as the humans took away her ability to reproduce. Putting chemicals that caused it to stop working to an extent. It certainly didn't help as it was both an asylum and a laboratory, at the same time. Most of the torment was for twisted research, but she refused to take anymore. She heard voices mumbling about what to do with the hybrids here.

Word is, the queen had escaped from Delta Squad, the ones who started it all. Now that the war had died down a lot, the humans had no need for them anymore. They had some soldiers there for simple patrol and guard work, knowing that hybrids aren't to be trifled with. So when something needed to be carried out, they were the ones to call for the job. Her chest cramped a bit as she looked upward to the familiar click of the door opening.

Her face lit up as she suspected the indisputable opening to freedom she so hopefully desired. She reached a pale weak hand as the soldier gently clasped a hand around her wrist and lowered her arm down as she tilted her head. This soldier had not worn his helmet, a flaw he would regret. He had dark hair and lighter hazel eyes. He didn't look that harmful, for a human, but kept a deadpan face looking down upon her.

"I-I don't understand..."

Her hand shook as she held it close to her heart. The soldier sighed a bit and drew a pistol from his belt.

"I was given orders to put you down. Don't worry, it only will hurt for a second."

He turned away to fetch ammo before being gripped by the shoulder and having her quickly sink her sharp kantus fangs into his neck, severely damaging his jugular vein, making sure his death would be quick. Blood trailed down her mouth and dribbled off her chin as she stared off, feeling like a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. The act of killing felt justified to her. Euphoric even. She held her breath as shrieks from other soldiers were heard from the nearby hall.

She leaned out of the doorway and saw that her move had thrown the labcoats off. The other hybrids had escaped due to the shock and terror of the situations. She stared out silently as sirens blared in the halls. Before turning and seeing a much larger hybrid that could definitely tear her apart, limb from limb if she wanted to. Feeling slightly anxious about the situation, she turned to leave but got pulled back by her hair.

"H-Hey! Let go!"

"So, you're the one who put this into motion?"

She slightly wiped a bit of the blood off her mouth as she tried to regain composure of the situation, but still felt her knees tremble.

"Yes... Why do you ask?"

"Well, with your strength, we could start an uprising against humanity. You don't really have a choice."

The much larger individual felt a slight tug on her arm, she turned to see what seemed like her sister in protest of the situation.

"Sanguine, what are you doing? This lady helped me!"

Sanguine released her grip as her captive tumbled down.

"You... know her?"

"Yes, her name is... Kandace, I think..."

Kandace kept thinking about that offer, to help eradicate human race was something she hadn't really cared for until up to now. It had been 2 years since she had given up her freedom to save an old friend of hers. Her only regret had been not being strong enough. She was no longer the frail child she had once been known for. She lusted for blood, and was willing to commit devious acts against every single soldier or civilian who stood in her way.

"I'll do it."

She held her hand out giving a sly grin, as she giggled.

"You can count on me."

A slight clunking noise was heard as they saw another kantus breed open the door and topple over. Blond-haired, with dark eyes, and blood seeping from the stumps of where both his arms were severed. He was breathing heavily, having been stressed about the situation. It was a little confusing on how he opened the door, but they didn't feel like questioning it. He looked around trying to get a better understanding of the situation and struggling to get to his feet.

"So, Stizza, you're a little late to the party."

He cleared his throat before standing straight and recognizing Kandace looking miserable, yet sinister. He had seen her before, she was close with the high priest, whom at the time, was a controversial figure. He managed how Skorge maintained his cool with a young teenager at his side. Whatever kept him in a positive attitude, he supposed.

"What do you expect!? I had to use my toes to open that door!"

They heard heavy footsteps down the hall. The humans were prepared to shoot on sight, presumably with the nastiest weapons they had. The hybrids realized that this conversation should carry on somewhere else. Sanguine carried Stizza over her shoulder, being a hybrid of human and berserker, was much stronger, and taller than the other experiments surrounding her. Upon escaping, the sunlight felt brutal.

The beautiful colours of the sky, the landscape of the field, it all felt mesmerizing to Kandace. She hadn't been out for years, and it all felt foreign to her. The soil between her toes and talons of her much smaller kantus feet felt comforting. She then realized that now wasn't the best time to gawk at the scenery and continued running feeling ever so powerful with the warm summer breeze dancing through her crimson locks. The humans stopped running to catch their breaths as they watched Kandace cheerful about her breach and Stizza mocking them.

Somewhere, the surviving locusts had been forced to move to a new location, where the newer palace had been made. None that the humans knew about anyways, seeing as the attack had caused them to lose another large majority of their forces. Myrrah sat upon her new throne, and watched as her royal advisor, high priest, and general, Skorge glanced out the window nearby. She looked a little upset knowing that he'd remained gloomy for years, and hadn't been acting like his normal self.

"It's quite sad, isn't it, my queen?"

Myrrah winced as she lied through her teeth, knowing what he was going to talk about. He had complained about not being strong enough. He blamed himself for being defeated so easily, and saved his strength for the humans.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know if she's alive. Should I just... forget?"

Myrrah sighed sadly as she turned her head in pity.

"I... don't know, Skorge..."

Soon a drone slammed open the door, catching the attention of both of them.

"H-Humans! Half-humans!"

"Enough out of you! I'll deal with the matter in my own time!"

Skorge took off to the area the drone had specified, and stopped to discover commotion going on outside of the Theron's clinic. He peeked over the crowd to see the other locusts in awe at the sight of the newly improved freaks of their army. Coquelicot thankfully had some snazzy clothes on standby, having knowing them closely enough to remember what they liked. Sanguine cut off half the side of her curly mahogany hair, as Clarity sat back watching Stizza checking out the new set of arms he was eventually going to get.

He was sketching the blueprints of the designs and mechanics of this set of arms for the suffering amputee, when Stizza was approached and hugged affectionately by his half-brother, Oxblood.

"I see you are doing well, half-bloods."

Skorge pushed his way through the crowd as the drones and kantus bowed in respect. Stizza looked less than ecstatic to see Skorge again. Skorge was alerted by the sudden sight of red hair. It was Kandace, who looked like someone he would've never recognized had it not been for the hair. Skorge was instantly silenced by the shock of seeing someone he thought would never appear again.

Her hair had been much longer than last time, she no longer wore the blue and gold kantus uniform, but had shredded most of the asylum dress she wore and had worn that instead. She tore it because it had information that either had the name of the asylum, or "01" scrawled on it in red. Unable to risk being sent back she removed all evidence on her attire. She wore spike wristbands, and striped stocking covered her legs, followed by boots with spikes on them. Not to mention, she reached adulthood, and developed a prominent and feminine figure.

She stared at him with bewilderment, knowing it had been too long since she last saw him, and was more than just happy to see him.

"I-I... heard you were back so I wanted to give you this."

Skorge held out a folded cloth, as black as night with the shimmering gold pendant with her name embedded on it. She comfortably put it on, as she looked up to Skorge, who was giving a normal smile.

"You're... fine with it?"

"It's much warmer, because you gave it to me."

Skorge got a little startled by that gesture and turned to leave, blushing a bit.

"Is something wrong Skorge?"

Stizza jested him as Coquelicot shot him a glance, discouraging him from teasing Skorge, and making the situation worse.

"You! Hold your tongue! I'll make sure you can't walk either, Stizza!"

About a couple weeks later, Skorge was struggling to cope with his overwhelming emotions for the companion he once knew as a friend, and had tried to keep his distance, unable to deal with it in a proper manner. Unaware of this, Kandace felt quite alone, and quite disappointing of this reunion. Kandace sat on some steps questioning the scenario, as Skorge watched from a distance, feeling guilty for her suffering such confusion.

"S-Skorge?"

Skorge flinched and clung to the wall, being spotted by Clarity, the young 15-year old sniper who had seen him standing around. Quietly, and urgently he gently yanked her by her side-ponytail and dragged her to another hallway hissing under his own breath.

"What do you want?"

"You were watching Kandace so I wanted to ask you what was going on."

Skorge felt his chest tighten, as he sighed miserably.

"Lockehart... Have you ever been in love?"

"With a couple girls, but they were too human..."

"Ah yes, you are into different mates..."

Clarity had a small smile on her face as she placed her hands on her sides under the immediately quick realization of the situation of what was going on.

"I see. You're in love with Kandace, aren't you, Skorge?"

Skorge hung his head, a little embarrassed, and was blushing significantly.

"Y-Yes..."

"Well, I suggest you tell her. She's wanted to see you for a long time, you know."

Skorge clenched his fist and stood up straight triumphantly, looking determined as he held a confident smile on his face.

"You're right! Why should a locust warrior have to fear affection?"

Clarity heard her sister calling her as she gave Skorge a slight pat on the back before leaving.

"Just, don't do anything reckless. Skorge marched his way into the hallway Kandace was occupying, and approached her from behind. She slightly rolled her eyes, and turned her head away.

"Now you come see me?"

"N-No! It is much more complex than that!"

She shrugged in frustration before being quickly gripped by the shoulders, much to her surprise.

"It's just... I'm oddly attracted to you, and I do not know how to deal with the matter."

Kandace blushed a bit, before giving a small smile.

"Really? That's uncharacteristic of you."

"Well, you're mature now, you slay a lot of humans, and you have a lovely appearance."

Kandace shyly turned her head.

"To be honest, I think I had feelings for you too. I was just unsure of it..."

Skorge slightly leaned in, as Kandace swallowed nervously, not having been in a situation quite like this. Skorge clamped his mouth, fangs and all, onto hers and held Kandace close to him, which left a rather unsightly pair of bite marks on her face. Skorge noticed this and stared wide-eyed that his fangs were certainly lethal weapons.

"Don't worry, I'm a quick healer."

"K-Kandace! What are you doing?"

Kandace noticed out of the corner of her eye, Stizza looking of disapproval about what was going on as of now, as Skorge let out a menacing hiss.

"Calm down, Lieutenant. I want to stay with him like this."

"He isn't on good terms with the Soul Killers! I'm concerned about that!"

During those weeks, the small group of locusts of Kandace's roundtable had formed a pact uniting them together. Stizza believed that Kandace had quite the potential to be a powerful leader, and wanted to be more of an older brother figure towards Kandace, and didn't want any harm to come to her.

"I'm not afraid of them. Why should I care what they think?"

"They're powerful forces and heroes of the horde! They kill those who speak ill of them!"

Kandace folded her arms and looked rather agitated as she glared at Stizza.

"If they were heroes, where were they when I needed them the most?"

Kandace turned around and walked out as Stizza looked away, feeling guilty, as he looked around in the awkward scenario that submerged the atmosphere.

"...When I get my arms, I should trim my hair..."

Skorge caught up to Kandace as she walked down the hall, it was a little awkward now, having known her as a lover instead of a companion.

"Speaking of which... when you needed me the most. I should've been there."

Kandace stopped, looking slightly concerned about his health.

"Y-You were injured... I didn't want them to hurt you too..."

Skorge felt Kandace lean in close to his chest, as he gave her hair a gentle stroke. Even if he was hurt he was going to have to risk himself. Now that he has more on the line than just a close friend. He had a lover, who was a merciless fighter, despite her questionable appearance and behaviour.

"You wanted to stay like this?"

Kandace nodded her head giving an affectionately confident smile as Skorge offered a hand to her.

"Shall we?"

She giggled as she gripped Skorge's icy-cold hand.

"I am in the mood for killing some humans right now anyways."


	11. The Invasion

Stizza cleared his throat as he got up, and looked out to see the woman he encountered getting the plants for Coquelicot's medicine. Her awkward smile showing that she had been caught earlier, and was trying to weasel her way out of the situation.

"O-Oh... It's you..."

Stizza leaned back into his chair, and stared out awkwardly as she shook off a drone's grip.

"If it's of your concern, I got caught."

Stizza winced as he got up with his arms reattached.

"Really? Do you need me to... escort... you?"

The lady grabbed Stizza's mechanical hands kindly as she pulled him alongside her.

"To be honest, I never did catch your name."

"O-Oh! I never gave it? It's Esther."

Esther. He could get used to that. He smiled to himself, he seemed to be falling for this 'Esther' groundwalker. Suddenly, a grim realization came over him. She's human. How would the others react to that. Especially the higher-ranking locust, like Myrrah...

...And Skorge

"Stizza?"

He snapped himself back to reality as he focused down towards Esther looking concerned for him.

"You look pale."

Stizza blinked a couple times as he looked around nervously. He grabbed her by the wrist and ran fast in an attempt to get her out of the situation before so he couldn't see Skorge in his sights to ruin things. He took her outside behind a couple trees somewhere in the hollow so that any harm may not come to her.

"What are we running from?"

Stizza breathed heavily as he looked back to her.

"Something dangerous."

She turned to admire the view outside.

"I've never felt this exhilarated during the entirety of this war, quite like I did now."

Stizza blushed a small bit as he turned to see her feeling relaxed.

"And then it STOPS being exhilarating when you realize that you're surrounded by people who want you dead."

"A-Anyway... I'll make sure to see you more. You're tons of fun, Stizza."

Stizza stared in shock as his face turned red nervously.

"Y-Yeah... Make sure you do."

"Ah, Stizza. Who is this?"

Stizza's eyes widened as he turned to see Skorge behind him with Kandace and Samael. He approached him as a bead of sweat formed on his head as a tense silence over came the situation.

"I was escorting a human... uh... to a different locale to be tortured. She isn't worth YOUR time."

Skorge flicked his tongue in disbelief as Stizza stared him down.

"Fine! I was getting her outta here because I don't want anything bad to happen to her!"

Skorge kinda looked away obviously not showing much care about what was going on right now.

"I-I... really don't mind... She isn't doing much harm... right?"

"Well, she's a civilian, and really doesn't harbour any hatred towards us."

"You better be right about that, Stizza. You aren't... well... our smartest soldier..."

Stizza bared his fangs at his remark. He wasn't as intelligent as people wanted him to be. But he knew how to at least maintain SOME sort of brain activity. Even if he occasionally acted childish, he'd still be considered a vital soldier.

"S-So, when did you guys meet?"

Kandace smiled a bit obviously knowing that Stizza held some sort of attachment to this human.

"When we found Samael. Where were you again?"

Samael laughed mischievously and cleared his throat.

"Locking tongues with her kantus lover~"

Kandace glared at Samael before turning back to Stizza,

"It's alright! You can become fairly close with this human in anyway you want"

Stizza smiled warmly as he held Esther's hand and proceeded to walk off with her to escort her back to her house.

"Anyways, I forgot to mention. About the pervert remark. Reapers don't TECHNICALLY have genders... I just go by male pronouns."

"So, reapers don't have genders? That's... Interesting."

"Well we certainly don't have a lower half now, do we?"

Vael hissed and squirmed as Kandace held the baby reaver in her arms. Samael looked to see her looking quite irritated.

"What's wrong?"

"So. You want me to slay Vazeera? I almost died!"

Samael stretched his arms out as he sighed.

"Yup, and Vazeera is teamed up with that human you faced earlier."

Kandace felt her heart knot up. This couldn't be real, could it? Vazeera and Zacharias had teamed up and wanted, assumably, her blood. She felt pained. Skorge noticed the anguish on her face and turned to Samael.

"I don't care whomever stands in her path! I will eradicate them by any means!"

Kandace smiled a little bit slightly relieved and lowered her head. On the inside she worried for Skorge's health. Yes, he was loyal. Perhaps too loyal. Loyal enough to risk his own life to make sure she was safe despite any injuries he'd receive doing so.

It made her feel weak not being able to help herself like this against her foes. She didn't want to lose Skorge by any means, especially after all he's done for her. Sure, she loved him, but she didn't want him to die.

"Very well. Kandace, mind if I make an offering?"

She raised her head looking up at Samael giving a friendly smile.

"After he's defeated, I'll cure your infertility."

She stared wide-eyed, with noticeable tears in her eyes. Why would an entity like this help someone like her? It didn't matter now, and she hadn't felt as happy as she did for a while.

"Th-Thank you... I'll try."

Samael turned his head as if distracted by something and alerted his immediate attention to something off in the distance.

"I believe I have something to attend to. I'll be a second."

Samael headed off in the direction he pointed and left Kandace and Skorge standing there. She stared out blankly and fell to her knees.

"You know I'm going to die. Right?"

"Excuse me?"

She hung her head in misery worried about her fate.

"I'm not strong enough."

"Lies! You've survived this long!"

"Only because of circumstance!"

Kandace snapped at him in frustration, and looked up to him with noticeable tears rolling down her cheeks.

"K-Kandace... I..."

"I survived because you taught me, I escaped because a soldier messed up! If you haven't showed up, Vazeera would've killed me!"

Skorge showed ways of pain silently, hearing the words that stung herself on multiple occasions. He didn't want to see her upset like this.

"They've called me your pawn, or your weakest adversary in the past. It seems like nothing has changed, hadn't it?"

She wiped away her tears and turned to leave before hearing a large explosion off in the far distance. Her eyes widened as she felt the sudden heat of a battle incoming. She looked off to see that lambent forces were invading the heart of the new palace and Nexus.

"H-hey! Now you can prove your strength perhaps?"

She turned to Skorge giving off a warm smile. They, like other locusts in the area, went to retrieve their other weapons and stood their ground. Eventually she was joined by her other colleagues.

"Kandace! Is Bloodforge ready for firing?"

She loaded her dual scythe rifle with ammo and aimed her sights on a squadron of drudges off in the distance. She fired a couple rounds, causing a drudge to blow up. The explosion knocked the others off their feet, lambent drones ran past, Vazeera leading them from afar.

"Damn, of course HE has to return..."

Kandace felt something brush up against her forearm. She glanced over to see Samael pop up behind her giving a small smile. In the distance, Vazeera recognized the few taking out his soldiers. Skorge, Kandace, and... Samael. He began rushing through locust forces pushing through them with immense force. He leapt over a large chasm in front of the three.

"I see you're back."

"A little early though, isn't it?"

"Well, Vazeera, it's my duty to destroy you!'

Vazeera drew a long blade from his sleeve and pointed it at his foes.

"Now, I suppose I'll take care of these two."

Vazeera felt a swift slice across his face, leaving his gash leaking with imulsion. He turned behind him to see Kandace attacking him with furious slices, aware that he shielded his weak spots well, like Lambent Berserkers as an example.

"Oh, you want a world of hurt, girlie?"

She felt a kick knock the wind out of her from behind. It seemed Vazeera brought Zacharias here to the party. She was gasping for air as Skorge immediately tried fending off Vazeera, having taken him down the first time.

"You handle the human! I've got this!"

Vazeera gave a sinister grin as he swung his blade towards Skorge.

"Good!"

"Kandace! C'mon!"

Samael rushed to her aid. Stumbling to her feet, she still had the strength to fight, and dodged a fist. She grabbed Zacharias by the forearm and flipped him over her shoulder, and delivered a blow to his face causing him to spit blood. He gave a glare and swept his foot, knocking Kandace to her feet. Zacharias withdrew his gun and fired, she tried dodging but one barely missed her arm but grazed it, causing it to bleed a little.

Kandace used her one half of Bloodforge to try and slice Zacharias, but kicked it out of her hand.

"Heh! Got'cha!"

He aimed his gun and fired directly at her before sliding under him and delivering a powerful kick to the back of his head, knocking him out cold.

"Surely, I'm not to be underestimated. Especially when I'm in a bad mood."

Skorge blocked an incoming slice from Vazeera, but the imulsion seeped through the center of his staff and it snapped in two, much to Skorge's shock. In his confusion, he had the mistake of letting his guard down, and his lambent foe sliced his blade across his chest, as he heard his blood hit the ground.

Followed by his lover's screaming.


	12. Recovery

Skorge gasped for breath as he felt a cold sting spread across his chest. He looked down to see blood leaking out of a wound that was suddenly inflicted onto him. He fell onto his back and felt his body become numb, cold, and begin tremble. He heard the his lover cry out for him as she collapsed to her knees beside him and her eyes began to tear up.

"I-I... Messed up... didn't I?"

Skorge spit blood beside him as Vazeera licked the blood off his blade.

"You son of a bitch..."

Kandace stood up and shot a glare at Vazeera. He swung Zacharias over his shoulder looking away without a shred of emotion shown. As Kandace charged towards him, a lambent stalk sprung in front of her, blocking her assault.

"If you excuse me, I'll have to take my vessel somewhere to recover."

As Vazeera walked off he felt a sharp pain in his gut. He looked down to see a scythe blade protruding out of his stomach. Kandace bared her fangs as she swung it out of him, causing a gaping wound in his chest. He screeched in pain, as he roared at her angrily, cursed and began limping quickly away, as more lambent footsoldiers rushed in on her location.

"Don't worry! We've got this, Kandace!"

Kandace saw out of the corner of her eye, a horde of locust, armed with a barrage of deadly weapons, led by the other members of her group. Oxblood knelt down beside her with Coquelicot and they carried Skorge off to an infirmary unit.

"No! Let ME take care of them instead!"

She felt the tight grip of a Palace Guard try to drag her off. She fought against him and wormed her way out of his grasp and fell to her knees. Skorge weakly snapped himself awake, spitting up some blood.

"There's too many! You're going to get hurt!"

She turned to Skorge looking distressed, yet confident with tears in her eyes. She stood up and faced him and picked up her weapon.

"Why? Why won't you let me do this for you!?"

She kept thinking to herself. She watched the onslaught of lambent as she turned to the captain of the squad attacking them.

"Do not let them spare a single one... or you're next."

She grabbed him by the throat as she gave him a cold, sinister glare. He nodded in fear as she threw him to the ground and walked away.

-

"So... um... nice place you got."

Stizza removed his helmet, and lied back on Esther's couch.

"I've been meaning to ask, why's your armor so different to the other ones?"

"Armored Kantus?"

She nodded her head as she poured a pitcher of water into a glass, and took a sip.

"It was prototype armor. I just didn't want to change it."

He relaxed himself as he noticed how different the interiors between Kandace and Esther's houses were. It was pretty comforting, the decor was somewhat fancy, and had some nice antiques, it felt like one of those brochures him, Kandace, and Clarity found scavenging an area once, of those log cabins somewhere on Sera.

"You like it?"

"Yeah, it's much different than my friend's."

"Hm? What's it like?"

Stizza rested a hand on his forehead. He hadn't been in there that often, but he does recall a few things he'd seen there.

"Well, it's much larger, and as far as I'm concerned, you didn't steal half the possessions you own."

Esther let out a slight chuckle as she watched Stizza give her a nervous smile.

"You're so charming for a locust, Stizza."

"Well... I-I try..."

Stizza replied stuttering a bit, his face blushing. He had never had respect for a girl like this, a human at least. Suddenly, Clarity swung the door open looking panicked as she bent over, hands on her knees, breathing heavily. Stizza sprung up concerned about what could have possibly happened.

"Wh-What happened!?"

"Siege... I-In the hollow!"

Clarity said through heavy gasping.

"Skorge got critically injured! Vazeera was there and everything!"

Stizza felt something knot in his gut. He hated Skorge but he wasn't as horrible as to not feel sympathy for Kandace as well. After all, she knew him best, right? More than anyone else possibly ever could.

"Clarity! We have to go!- Now!"

-

-2 Weeks Later-

Everything was blurred. Even the overhead light wasn't clear. Skorge blinked constantly as his fingers twitched, trying to get accustomed to the atmosphere. He sat up and pressed himself into the corner of the room defensively, as he saw Coquelicot occupying himself.

"So, you've woken up?"

Skorge nodded. His eyes shifted, still in a state of shock. He remembered something as he looked down and noticed his wound had been stitched up, and was professionally done. How surprising. He stumbled standing up, and let out an audible hiss.

Skorge looked at the mirror of the medical cabinet.

"How long...?"

"2 weeks, sir."

Skorge shook his head and slammed his fist into the mirror, leaving a series of cracks and broken glass. He looked to his hand, which was quickly bleeding, from his own undoing.

"You should be lucky you survived. You're especially fragile."

Skorge gave him a glare, as Coquelicot smirked looking away from him."

Skorge came up from behind and pushed him against a wall.

"Y-You! You're acquainted with Kandace, correct?"

"Of course."

"Where is she?"

Coquelicot looked away, the smile fading from his face.

"She disappeared. We hadn't seen her since."

Skorge's eyes widened as he released his grip, he felt his chest tighten in worry. He left to got talk to someone higher in power about what happened. He swung open the gates of the conference room, interrupting something going on inside. They stared in shock seeing how their High Priest was fine.

"I see you're healthy, Skorge."

Myrrah sat at the end of the table. Glaring at Skorge, having interrupted her and was assuming that he'd come here to ask about his mate.

"Do you know where Kandace is, my queen?"

Myrrah dismissed the other guards and closed the door behind them. She frowned and let out a frustrated sigh.

"After your injuries, she left."

Skorge slammed his fist onto the table in annoyance. He needed answers at any cost.

"Just tell me!"

"After the assault, I discovered it was time to dispose of the reaper. Kandace left with it."

Skorge had a look of grim worry upon his face. He had to find her, quick.

-

"Samael?"

The reaper poked his head from the shadows, watching Kandace step out in newer attire. Her outfit was now a sleek black, instead of silky white. Her outfit sported a reddish-orange neckerchief, and the sleeves of her arms had been cut off, exposing her jagged shoulders. Most of her stockings were on her arm and went down from the lower part of her shoulders to her elbows, and had armor on her forearms. The waist had metal plating and a red band around it, and there was some sort of skirt, one half concealing, and the other revealing her thigh.

She still sported her regular stockings, but wore boots with more reinforced metal plating. She walked out with a confident smile on her face, as she sat beside Samael. She had turned 19 during Skorge's recovery.

"That's good. Some better armor would be helpful right now."

"Thank you, Samael."

"It certainly brings out the colours of your clan."

She nodded as Samael dropped a couple sticks and a log near the small site they set up, and prepared to start a fire in the dead of night.

"There is something I must confess."

Kandace turned to Samael as he twiddled his thumbs.

"The reason for my previous behaviour is how I cope with the tragedy. I've seen more death than you could ever imagine."

Kandace turned away slightly, knowing that his seriousness couldn't be helped. She always suspected something off about him, by the way he acted, or by the way he looked. There was something simply fascinating about his history.

"As for Vazeera, he used to be my brother. That's why he is my business alone."

Kandace felt a knot in her throat, she didn't know what to say or how to feel. The enemy of her and her ally, had history that probably went on for decades.

"I-I am sorry."

"It doesn't matter. What does matter is purifying him of his parasite"

"Without killing him?"

"Reapers don't die. We are death incarnate. We self-cleanse ourselves. We are immortal."

Samael stared deep into the flames as they lit up his face and into his empty eye-sockets.  
"Purge a worm, and the victim recovers. Correct?"

Kandace nodded a bit, when Samael turned to her for an answer.

"Good."

He replied.

"What about Skorge?"

Samael looked down quite upset about the truth.

"He is allied with Myrrah, we cannot trust him."

Skorge watched from afar, and felt relieved his mate was well in the arms of the reaper, whom he was unsure of in the beginning. He was sure to keep quiet in case any enemy camps were nearby. They were settled in the middle of both enemy territories of both humans and savages. Samael perked up hearing slight rustling in the tall grass and shrubs, and let out a small hiss.

"Come on out, you know I can sense you."

Skorge stood up looking nervous.

"That is quite an unsettling ability reaper."

"You need to leave, High Priest."

Kandace got up and stood in front of Skorge in defense and protestation.

"Skorge is alright! I promise!"

Samael shook his head and turned away in disappointment. Her feelings got in the way, despite everything he did wrong in the past.

"K-Kandace... What is this?"

Kandace turned to Skorge, and felt a surge of guilt looking at the scarring cross his chest. She tried to look away, to cleanse the feeling, but at the same time, she wanted to see the most important person in her life away. She felt a heavy overdose of conflict plaguing her mind.

"I'm... sorry... because of me, you..."

She reached out hesitantly, but Skorge brushed her hand away.

"Do not worry. You warded off the lambent. Though it may not seem like it, you're a saviour to our kind."

Skorge turned to Samael with a serious look on his face and pointed in his direction.

"And you! You do not understand the reason for my loyalty, do you?"

Samael stared off at him looking rather frustrated at what type of selfish thing he would've expected him to say like the rest.

"Everything I ever did, I did for Kandace. If I haven't shared my loyalties with her, I dread what Myrrah would have done. I am regretful of my past deeds and was consumed by power. Is there anything else you would like to add?"

Samael's face changed and looked less angry. He seemed to have underestimated this soldier.

"Very well. We were going to take siege on a lambent camp. The road will be perilous, but your mate has trained hard."

Skorge acknowledged as he stood side by side with the reaper.

"Your brother is a reaper?"

"Yes."

"Than why does he look human?"

"When reapers are 'killed' we do not die. We simply are reborn into a leech-like creature to imitate the image of our lord. We than restore our bodies, however we keep all previous memories."

Skorge thought to himself about that. He had assumed that Reapers aligning themselves with him was a common myth. But it was true. Considering how Samael was a helpful entity, and didn't want him to leave. He could even call him a 'friend'.


	13. Trauma

The moon's light gave a heavenly glow, and it was much more lovely considering that there wasn't as much light as there was in the new Nexus. The outdoor atmosphere was relaxing, to an extent. The crickets chirping, and the fire crackling was a soothing sound to fall asleep to. Kandace, sleeping on her side, had fallen deep into sleep. She dreamed of a peaceful life, warm suns, soft soils, and colourful flowerbeds.

It was never really that simple to have lived in peace in these times. Not anymore. She sat alone, with the gentle breezing caressing her hair, as she admired the scenery. She felt a tight grip around her ankles, and turned down to see the weeds of the field coil around her legs and slowly warp into corroded chains. She was dragged down onto her back, and she panicked as the thorns of the flower stems pierced her body.

The sky darkened and fire spewed up from the earth. She saw an ominous shadow loom over her as she saw an unidentified whitecoat with a needle lean in close. The needle almost piercing her eye. She sprung up screaming having woken up from her unwelcome nightmare. She was breathing heavily, as her fingers twitched. She covered her eye and began to feel nauseous, as she started to sob quietly.

She got up and walked away from the settlement and sat on a large stone nearby, viewing the moon.

"Why does it have to be this way? Just because I'm a little different?"

She murmured quietly with a tear rolling down her face. She hung her head and wiped away her tears and folded her hands on her lap. She then heard the snapping of a twig, which startled her. She turned around to see Skorge looking quite concerned about her behaviour and absence. Skorge felt hurt seeing Kandace with a look of anguish and distress upon her face.

"K-Kandace?..."

Skorge crouched down next to her as she sighed.

"So many nights..."

She mumbled to herself.

"The cycle of nightmares I have because of the things I've went through never end."

She placed her head in her hands and began crying as Skorge reached out to Kandace and rubbed her back in consolation. Kandace buried her face in his chest and gently ran her supple fingers across his back.

"Is... there anything I can do for you, Kandace?"

Kandace nodded and looked up to him.

"You could spend the night. I mean... you support me, and you comfort me..."

Skorge blushed a bit and stared down at her confused a bit.

"I-I beg your pardon? Are you talking about... mating?"

Kandace blushed and shook her head giggling

"N-No! I meant like... ACTUALLY sleeping."

Skorge smiled a little embarrassed.

"We still haven't done both of those in a while, my love."

Skorge stroked her cheek with his claws holding her close, as Kandace squirmed laughing at his remark.

"D-Don't say that."

Skorge picked her up and carried Kandace in his arms back to the site where they saw Samael waiting for them.

"What were you two doing?"

"Nothing much."

"I mean, I don't have a problem with it. It's boosting our morale... I guess!"

Samael replied with a fake smile on his face. Kandace, knowing of his real personality now, knew that he was doing this as a charade, to mask his misery and torment.

"I suppose I am not fooling you with smiles and cheery attitudes, aren't I?"

Kandace nodded with a smirk on her face. She shrugged as Skorge took her to get some rest.

Kandace woke up close and in the arms of Skorge. As she slowly opened her she lied there still tired and dazed. She let out a quiet yawn as she stretched her arms a bit. She felt Skorge's firm grip on her arm as she tried sitting up. She had a small smile on her face and rolled her eyes, as she heard Samael outside humming to himself. She put on the armor on her forearms, her neckerchief, and her boots and crawled out into the sunlight.

She covered her face as she was stunned by the blinding light. Kandace saw Samael there cleaning and polishing their weapons.

"I see you've had a good nap."

"Yeah. But, what are you doing?"

Samael shrugged and continued wiping across one of Kandace's blades with Skorge's chainsaw staff beside him.

"I'm sure all the blood and viscera gets lodged in your weapons, it must be a pain for you to clean up. Consider this a friendly gesture of sorts."

Kandace walked over and sat cross legged as Samael continued humming to himself.

"Kandace? You left a little early, correct?"

Kandace turned to see Skorge and smirked at his teasing.

"We have plans. To help Amriel, we have to take a detour through a facility, however I heard of rumors that it's... haunted."

"Reaper- S-Samael, you're technically a spiritual being, are you not?"

"True. But I don't have any intention of causing you unpleasant vibes."

Skorge put a hand on his shoulder and Samael looked up surprised.

"Very well. Your intentions have positive influences on us anyways."

Samael was still shocked to see a much friendlier and caring side of Skorge. After all, he had been portrayed as one of the most ruthless and merciless soldiers in Myrrah's disposal. After all, he had possibly given him orders to destroy every reaper who had tainted the palace with their presence.

"So. Are we ready to head out already?"

"Hm? Why so bitter Kandace?"

She shivered with ill thoughts, there was something about the description of the designated area that caused her to be suddenly distressed. She had then realized what it was, but didn't bother admitting her problem.

"N-Nothing..."

She shook her head and stood up and Skorge grabbed her by the wrist.

"If it is about any human interference, you can trust me to tear them limb from limb, and make a set of scrolls from their skin."

"That won't be necessary, I can sense there won't be any humans nearby."

Skorge loosened his grip hearing Samael's reply. Skorge nudged her shoulder and walked over to Samael to prepare on their departure as Kandace stared off into the distance. Slinging a small bag over her shoulder, Kandace and them headed down a gritty trail surrounded by rocks and the occasional dry patch of grass. Samael close to try and blend in between the two, to lead off any suspicious attackers. They saw many camps way off in the distance, but they appeared abandoned, which was good.

Passing several rotting trees, the trio entered an ominous looking forest, they thought it was safe until they had spotted several of Myrrah's soldiers patrolling the area. Afraid of what could become of them if caught, Skorge grabbed the both of them and took them away from where they could be easily seen and turned around the corner to see they were still unaware of their presence. He stepped out and approached the both of them from behind.

"S-Sir!?"

He folded his hands behind his back and leaned towards them menacingly.

"Yes?"

"We didn't expect to see you here..."

"Neither did I. Tell me, what has been your purpose?"

They swallowed nervously and looked towards each other cowering in Skorge's mere presence.

"We... have to eliminate your... mate."

Skorge glared at them, being the protective individual he was.

"Really?"

"Y-Yes..."

He grabbed one of them by the strap of their armor and slightly lifted them off the ground.

"I assume it's because you believe she is traitorous."

He hissed slightly as he felt the soldier quivering in his hands.

"Well. Tell the Queen if she dare touch her, I will show you how cruel I can REALLY be."

He threw him on the ground, with an audible crunching sound from the twigs and leaves on the ground.

"Do you understand?"

He nodded as the others scrambled.

"Y-Yes, we will report to her immediately!"

They fled the scene as Kandace walked out and placed her hands on her hips.

"Nicely handled. I would've added a vivid description of their torture. Maybe slap them around a little?"

Skorge folded his arms and looked away unimpressed at his own behaviour.

"True. I have been rather soft recently. Mostly you're to blame I suppose."

Kandace giggled and walked past him.

"If your heart was still ice-cold, you wouldn't have so much time for us."

Skorge rolled his eyes and rubbed the back of his head. He hated the fact she was right about things and outwitted him. However, her intelligence and maturity was one of the most admirable traits about her to him.

"I-I could still torture people if you want..."

"Y-Yeah, go ahead! I mean... it's what you enjoy, and it doesn't really do no harm..."

Samael calmly listened to the two bicker about Skorge's turned leaves. Though not really arguing, he could tell that the two were having a friendly debate about it. They continued through the forest as they saw an ominous structure off in the distance. They saw it most definitely in ruins, the sign in front of it was unreadable after years of decay. They looked past the sign to see a large fence covering the whole thing off.

Kandace peered through the fence as she heard Samael and Skorge talking amongst themselves about the facility. Kandace climbed over the fence as she stepped into a courtyard with some old bloodstains as she clenched her fists in distress. She looked up, unsure if this was reality or not.

"Welcome home..."

She whispered to herself.


	14. Gemini

Kandace stared at the towering fence. It buzzed faintly, which gave the impression that it was an _electric_ fence. Skorge approached beside her and turned to Kandace, who was observing the area.

"I had forgotten, what of Vael?"

Kandace perked up, she hadn't known the fate of her pet after her exile.

"Oh! When I was exiled, they took him away..."

Skorge nodded a little disappointedly.

"I see."

At that moment, they heard a small sound, the silent rustling of twigs and leaves. They both turned to see a small reaver with familiar golden stripes struggle, one of its tendril-like legs tied down with a chain. Kandace hurried over and unlatched it. The lock had no key to use or anything, just one of those simple locks for keeping small animals in check. Vael let out a small purr as he curled in Kandace's lap.

"I see he's safe."

Skorge said smiling, with his arms crossed. Kandace smiled back as she began to stand up, Vael wrapped tightly around her shoulder. Samael could be seen observing the building that wasn't too far off in the distance curiously.

Skorge came up to him from behind, arms crossed behind his back.

"I was wondering. By healing Kandace, you won't use some sort of sorcery, correct?"

Samael shook his head.

"Of course not. A majority, if not all reapers are born from a Kantus bloodline. I could heal her that way."

He turned his head to Skorge.

"I think a better question is why the other kantus couldn't heal her?"

Skorge felt startled about this question. He felt his shoulders tense.

"Myrrah wouldn't permit it."

"Really? Well, what about you? You don't seem to be held back."

Skorge loosened his shoulders and shot a cold stare at Samael, and turned to walk away.

"I think this conversation is _over."_

Samael glanced at him curiously as he walked back to Kandace. She was walking around the fence looking for a way to disable the fence. She had discovered some wiring running through the ground earlier, and wanted to see if it connected to a mainframe. She saw a small shack and began walking towards it, under the assumption it had a switch or some sort of device to shut the fence off. She slowly stopped in front of the door, it felt a little ominous.

Skorge was behind her and was prepared to take action in case anything went to Hell. She opened the door carefully, as the door made a creaking sound, and the scent of moist wood could be smelt. The lights from outdoors quickly filled the room. She let a small gasp escape from her lips, as she saw a corpse against the wall. Blood splattered everywhere. Skorge picked up the body to examine it.

It had probably been there for a very long time, and he could tell, seeing how shriveled and soft it was. He let go of it, letting it drop to the floorboards as Kandace examined near the window that there was some sort of motherboard of switches. most of them labelled, but the lettering seemed to be faded. Only a few could be readable. She flicked the switch as heard the fence nearby shut off. Kandace stepped out with Skorge, who was eyeing the old blood he got on his hand.

Her eyes widened with disgust as she pressed herself against the fence.

"Hm? What's the matter?"

"You got _blood_ on you!"

Skorge stared back at her in disbelief.

"You get blood on you _all_ the time!"

As Skorge walked up to her she crouched down making a slightly audible hissing noise.

"That's _old_ blood! It's all sticky, gross, and you can get diseases from older corpses!"

Skorge looked rather annoyed with her at the moment, and rolled his eyes.

" _I_ am doing just fine. Now, come."

He picked her up and carried her over his shoulder. She tried squirming, but gave up knowing how strong his grip is. Vael scattered crossing Kandace's back to Skorge's.

"I'd like to mention for you to cover your right side up more. I can kind of see your... _posterior_ , to say."

Kandace turned red and smiled a bit in embarrassment.

"No one's seemed to notice."

Skorge smiled.

"That's only because I don't allow it."

They found Samael and Skorge let down Kandace as she looked back up to the fence. She cracked her knuckles as she began scaling it. As she reached the top, she grew nauseous looking at the pavement of the courtyard below. She built up her courage and started to climb down.

She lost her grip as she began to climb down and held on the other side for dear life. Samael nudged Skorge a bit jokingly.

"I suppose you're enjoying this especially?"

"I dont approve of her getting injured, I'm sure she can handle herself. It's _kind of_ entertaining watching her struggle with simple tasks like this."

Kandace looked down at the both of them rolling her eyes. She lowered herself to the ground. Skorge shrugged as he scaled the fence with ease. He landed beside Kandace and turned to see Samael hover over it, as a supernatural being would. Kandace walked off through the courtyard, and wrapped her small hands around the door handles.

She opened the door and was welcomed by an ominous breeze, and saw an empty hallway, with scattered papers coating the floor. She shivered at the ambience of the place, much to Skorge's concern.

"Is something wrong?"

"No... I'm fine."

She bared her fangs as she walked through. Some of the broken pipes were leaking water, or other fluids all over the corners of the hall. There was the occasional overturned desk, and that was it. She glanced through the windows of different rooms, with dim or flickering lights and pressed a palm to the glass.

"I'll go look out for security, stay here with Samael."

Kandace simply nodded as Skorge headed off. She opened a set of double doors into a new corridor, where she saw different-sized cages and padded cells. Samael was impressed she knew her way well around this place as she made it up some stairs to the balcony area near the top floor. Skorge however found more skeletal remains of humans and.. locust? he knew something had to be up.

But, the humans didn't have anything to do with The Coalition? He glared as he walked through the empty, dark corridors, only to discover a door with a sign reading " **File Cabinet Storage".** Kandace, upstairs, had found an exit and told Samael to they needed to bring him there. They agreed and headed back down. They had trouble finding him but, there he was, emptying drawers.

Kandace's eyes went wide with realization as she ran over and swiped a couple of files across the desk.

"W-What are you doing!?"

She asked nervously. Skorge with an innocent smile on his face held a couple papers in his hand.

'I found these. My expertise on reading human language is limited, but from what I can see, there was some research going on here. Maybe you would've been interested?"

Kandace shook her head as a bead of sweat formed on her forehead, as Vael sunk into the back of her neckerchief, buried in her locks of hair.

"No! Put them _back_!"

"Kandace, what's going on with you?"

Samael watched them from a distance as several suspicions began to arise.

"I'm sure you're worried about disturbing the dead, correct?"

Kandace looked at him to speak, only to be interrupted by Skorge, who snatched most of the papers and observed them. One of them made a look of dread spread across his face. One of the subject names was one he recognized. The name of his lover.

"You... came from here?"

He asked looking back to the mass of bodies outside. Kandace looked away upset, silently nodding. Skorge sighed heavily as he glanced for anymore info.

"What other secrets have you kept from me?"

"I didn't tell you because I hate this place..."

She folded her arms.

"Do you know how many people were tortured for my genetics? I had blood on my hands as an infant, both human _and_ locust..."

Skorge swallowed his anger. Looking back at her.

"If that is the case, you could have told me. I don't like it when you bottle your stress."

Kandace smiled a bit as Samael picked up a paper.

"You said you wanted to know your origins?"

Samael asked drawing his finger across the paperwork.

"Your locust gene-donor was... Velous?"

Kandace perked up.

"High-Priest Velous?"

" _Former_ High-Priest. He was discharged for reaper worship. We used to be close friends."

Skorge immediately dropped what ever was in his hands and turned to Kandace in blissful shock.

"Seriously? That is..."

Unable to find the right words, he simply had a sincere smile as he gestured Kandace to lead them out. As they headed out the door, Samael quickly grabbed a folder. Inside was a simple picture of Velous with Samael. He placed in in his chestpiece and went to catch up to the others.


	15. Gemini, Part 2

After dealing with what they presumed to be their finished business here, the trio decided to head out of the way through this place. They entered through a series of corridors, and had come to what seemed to be the middle of the foundation. The room was a higher floor, as could be seen by the fact that leaning over the balcony could see a very steep fall at the bottom. The balcony was in a circular shape, a ring of sorts, and the way to access the stairs was blocked off by fallen pieces of it's own building.

"Are you positive this is the way out?" Skorge asked cautiously. Kandace turned back and nodded in reassurance. She slowly lowered herself down to the bottom floor and flinched a bit from the landing. She wasn't accustomed to leaping out of emergence holes quite like the other locust foot-soldiers were. Skorge and Samael followed her down, and looked around anxiously. It was dark, and the only light was from the whole above. Kandace noticed out of the corner of her eye was a strange object.

A drone? A _security_ drone. It was placed conveniently behind one of the vases, but a faint green glow gave away it's presence. She grabbed it and observed it closely. Was someone spying on them?

She hissed and threw it lightly onto the ground as she walked over to the other side of the room, where she could barely make out what seemed to look like a door. Before taking her first step, a bright beam of light projected onto them from above. There seemed to be a P.A system in the vicinity too, considering the overwhelming amount of static noise coming from the left, with barely any audible words spoken. Skorge looked a bit irritated with this whole scenario, he went up to the P.A system connected to the room and destroyed the wiring with his claws. He turned to Kandace obviously confused.

"I had believed you said this place was abandoned."  
He hissed, as Kandace shielded her eyes from the blinding light.  
"How should I know? This place was evacuated _years_ ago!" She protested as the light began to cease. Skorge folded his arms. "I suppose it doesn't matter. What _does_ matter is this could be a possible threat, and we're going to have to eliminate it fast." She nodded as Samael hovered to the door. He raised a hand and noticed it was one of _those_ doors.

"What is it?"

"It's locked. It runs on a mechanism to open it, but it seems busted, unfortunately. Thankfully, I see one of you had come properly prepared." He smiled eyeing Skorge's chainsaw-staff, he wielded in his hand. Skorge nodded as he approached the door and proceeded to slice in open with ease. He delivered a kick to knock it down so they could progress through. He turned back to see Samael crossing his arms in approval and Kandace giving him a warm smile. Kandace was the first through, Vael quickly scurrying beside her.

The other two followed her looking cautiously observing to see any traps that could be hidden in the area. Kandace turned back to Skorge, now holding Vael in her arms.

"Hey, Skorge?" She asked with a smile. He looked over to her.

"Yes?"

"After this, what do you want to name our child?" She asked with a small smile. Samael turned to Skorge and gave him a smile as well.

"It seems she doesn't want to waste time with those babies." He joked looking at him, giving off a small laugh. Skorge looked turned his head a bit nervously smiling.

"What? I value my relationship with Skorge." She said back smirking.

"Yes, as do I." Skorge replied. "I have never learned how to love, until now." Skorge claimed to her as Samael watched from behind.

"I hope whoever's spying on us doesn't feel the sexual tension emanating from the two of you." Skorge and Kandace looked to Samael blushing lightly.

"O-Oh! R-Right…" They laughed nervously at that. Vael chirped a bit as he nudged against Kandace's thigh. She looked down surprised.

"Hm? What is it?" She asked. Skorge placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You don't happen to have any sustenance for him, do you?" She turned to him and nodded a bit. She slipped a flask from her boot and unscrewed the top and lowered it for a bit. The young reaver pup skittered over and flicked his tongue across the opening of the container, cold water pouring out lightly. He let out a purr and curled up near her foot. She sighed a bit and carried Vael on her shoulder.

At the end of the corridor, Kandace opened the doors to see a set of proximity mines scattered all over the floor. There was no way they could get over there. Not with those blocking the way.

"Any ideas?" She asked turning over to them. Samael shrugged and Skorge crossed his arms thinking about it.

"Is there any way to disable them?" He asked. Kandace looked around and saw a ventilation duct attached to a wall near the floor. It was moderately sized and a square shape. Skorge pried the grate off with his hands. He kneeled down and looked through it.

"If only one of us was small enough to fit..." He mumbled to himself. He looked behind him and smiled at Kandace. He stood up and approached her confidently.

"Looks like your up! I'm obviously too tall, and the armor would get in the way, and Samael's armor is too bulky. So it looks like it's up to you, Kandace." She nodded as she crouched down and observed it. The look of confidence draining from her face.

"What's wrong?" Skorge asked.

"I can't do this." She said folding her arms. Skorge walked up to her curious.

"Why not?" He asked as she stood up walking to Skorge with her arms folded.

"Well, apparently you've forgotten I'm not as slim as I used to be." She joked as Skorge raised an eyebrow.

"Well, your waist is slim. Does that count?" He smiled innocently. She placed her hands on her wide hips.

" _No_ , it doesn't." She replied with a small smirk. Samael looked over to Vael.

"I say, we let him do it." He smiled. They both looked over to Vael. Kandace looked over back to him looking quite confused.

"We're going to send a _reaver_ to get it?" She asked.

"Well, I'm sure he could do it. I mean, if you _want_ to get stuck in the ventilation system instead." Skorge joked nudging her slightly. She looked slightly irritated with the joke.

"Kandace, I assure you everyone has at least joked about your well-endowed figure at _least_ once." He assured her giving her a small pat on the shoulder.

"What matters now is getting through these traps." Kandace said placing Vael near the entrance of the vent. She gave it a slight shove signaling for Vael to move. He scittered through until she couldn't him anymore. A few seconds after a light beep could be heard followed by a clicking sound. Samael looked through the hall to see that they didn't appear to be deployed at the moment.

Kandace picked a piece of nearby rubble ad threw it against one of them. That there was certain proof that the plan had worked, and they could safely continue. She smiled as Vael crawled back out and Kandace got one knee and gave him a soft pet in approval.

"I'm sure other traps will be present as well." Kandace said as Vael squirmed onto her shoulder. Skorge and Samael nodded and headed through, opening the doors and walked past the explosives. Kandace was ahead, obviously ready in case more traps were to be in the area.

"Samael, I've been meaning to ask. I've heard reapers can teleport or whatnot? Why can't you?" Samael shrugged. "I just don't feel in the mood for that." He replied.

"Anyways. I need to to find Stizza and Clarity, and bring them to me." She asked. Samael nodded and hovered away. Kandace turned to Skorge.

"Well, now we have time to ourselves... _almost_ just _ourselves_ , anyway." She joked _._ Skorge smiled a bit as he protectively put his arm around her. She opened another set of double doors, and saw strange containers in a large room. Jars filled with formaldehyde, organs and fetuses organized perfectly on the shelves. The room lighting was dim, and there was medical-related fluids scattered about.

Kandace shuddered a bit and felt a little nauseous. _This_ was where she came from. She felt lightheaded and Skorge looked over to her alarmed.

"Don't worry, the sooner we depart from this place, the easier I shall slice them into pieces." He smiled reassuringly, but his expression changed to more saddened as Kandace still looked away upset.

"H-Hey... It's okay..." He said patting her back. He stood up with a more serious look on his face. He walked off angrily, which caught Kandace's attention. He burst though all of the doors and stopped shocked at what was in front of him. Kandace caught up to him as well. She looked surprised and wide-eyed seeing the man who looked very familiar to her.


	16. Family

Kandace looked surprised. A feel of shock washed over her. There was a human watching over old data on several screens. He turned around upset, he had longer curly reddish-brown hair, and had glasses, with some stubble on his chin. Skorge nudged Kandace.

"You know this human?" He asked.

"...Father." She mumbled. She felt nauseous, a pit in her stomach. He smiled nervously.

"K-Kandace, I didn't expect to see you here..." He said trying to sound calm. Skorge grabbed him by his coat and picked him up.

"I should have you eradicated for your mistreatment of my species!-" Skorge looked behind him and saw Kandace folding her arms and he placed him back down on his feet.

"Skorge, you're not allowed to kill my dad." She sighed.

"K-Kandace! He-"

"I said no." She interrupted. There was some awkward silence among the three.

"So... um... can we talk about this at my house? It's a little unfitting here." Her father said. Kandace nodded. She knows she had gotten letters from him time and time again, but meeting him in person was shocking. They exited the laboratory and headed along a path with hedges a bushes. They saw a quite comfortable and large hill on a hill.

He opened the door to his humble abode and sat with them on the couch.

"So Kandace, who's this?" He smiled looking over to Skorge. Kandace blushed a bit.

"Oh! I- um... This is Skorge... my... uh... boyfriend." She smiled at her father nervously.

"Hm? And you didn't tell me?" He laughed.

"He's got a nice grip too, I bet he's super protective." He remarked dusting his coat off, putting it on the coat rack. He put on a tweed jacket with a seafoam coloured tie.

"So, where's your mother then?" Skorge asked Kandace.

"After what transpired a long while ago, we split, unfortunately. After I saw you back there, I contacted her again, telling her of your return." He smiled. He walked up to Skorge and held out his hand.

"Well, Skorge, my name is Wilson, and I hope you'll be a rather eccentric addition to our family in the future." Skorge was a little hesitant at first in shaking his hand, but eventually did, a little surprised at this human's friendliness.

"F-Family?" He asked with a nervous smile. Wilson nodded.

"Hopefully you'll take my daughter's hand in marriage." He told him.

"O-Of course!" It's just a little bizzare." Skorge said. Kandace looked over to them.

"Well I'm sure Skorge won't be detrimental. We're soulmates." She smiled as she placed her hand over Skorge's.

"Soulmates seems a little too much." He joked.

"True, I didn't imprison people because of religious reasons." Kandace retorted with a smirk. Kandace's father stood up.

"Would you two like anything?" Wilson asked with a small smile.

"We're fine , really." Kandace reassured. He nodded and left to the kitchen. Kandace felt Vael nuzzle against Kandace's thigh and gave him a small pet. Skorge smiled leaning close to her. Kandace slipped her hand under his helmet and caressed the skin on the side of his face.

Wilson came back with a small cup of tea, sitting across from them.

"So, anything important happen?" He asked. Kandace shrugged moving away from Skorge slightly.

"Y-Yeah. I got exiled recently, we gotta take care of some new foes, the usual." She sighed, feeling relaxed.

"If your friends need a place to stay, they're welcome here." He smiled. Kandace nodded in agreement she hoped they were safe. They were the closest friends she's had.

"So, how about you and Skorge? I'm sure you two enjoy your time together." He asked

"Me and Skorge want to have a kid, actually." Kandace said. Skorge pat her on the shoulder.

"I'm certain they'll be a great soldier." Skorge told her.

"So... erm... Pardon if it was just my vision, but... Who was that with you?" Wilson asked. Skorge and Kandace looked at each other. They explained that he was a supernatural entity, and her father took it surprisingly well.

"Will you two be sharing a room or..." He asked.

"Oh! Of course! For mental healing, not anything sexual!" Kandace smiled nervously, blushing a bit. Skorge put his arm around her waist, laughing a bit at her remark. With a sudden gentle knock on the door, the person there was dressed in COG armor, with a lady near him.

"Hey, uncle, i-" he paused seeing a locust there. He quickly drew his snub pistol aimed at Skorge. He stood up with a gorgon pistol pointing at this human as well. Kandace stood up worried and alarmed at the situation.

"What the hell is this doing here!?" He ordered an answer. Kandace tugged his shoulder hoping this wouldn't end horribly.

"G-Geoffrey, this is just my boyfriend. Calm down, okay?" He lowered his gun and looked at her with disbelief.

"Hold up! You had sex with it!?"

"M-Maybe?" She smiled nervously.

Geoffrey put the gun aside and shook his head. The lady behind him slowly stepped in. She saw the locust there and almost fainted.

"Whatever. Just make sure this thing doesn't kill us in our sleep." Skorge stood in silence and left the house, where he sat outside in the grass.

"Skorge? Where are you going?" Kandace asked concerned.

He sat looking thoroughly angry as Kandace sat beside him.

"What's wrong?" She asked him. He looked over to her but turned away in a second.

"This is why I was reluctant of meeting your family. I am a detriment." He sighed heavily. Kandace shook her head and hugged his arm.

"No, Skorge, they just need to get to know you." She smiled. Skorge turned back to her.

"You know me better than anyone else, you should know I have a temper... I see something, I kill. Simple as that."

Kandace sighed sadly and sat on his lap giving him a warm, tight hug. He nuzzled into her shoulder breathing heavily, needing desperate comfort. He pulled back a bit rolling back his shoulders.

"I-I am so pathetic..." He smiled sadly, hiding his face in his hands. Kandace rubbed his head and moved her hands to the sides of his face.

"Skorge, please, be happy. I still love you." Skorge started to smile a little bit leaning in close to Kandace. Skorge licked his fork tongue across her lips and held her close. Kandace had a comforting smirk as her and Skorge kissed for a while, as the sun began to set. Despite Skorge not having lips, they could still do it, mostly with a little tongue.

"Are you two okay?" They heard nearby. They were alerted, and much to their surprise, it was Kandace's farther, along with the lady who had fainted earlier.

"O-Oh my god! So sorry!" Kandace's exclaimed excited as she pulled away from Skorge.

"No, no, it's fine. Anyways, I hope we won't show anymore prejudice amongst your species." He smiled. Skorge nodded and stood up, and held his hand out for Kandace. She took his hand and stood.

"You've met me already, this is my ex-wife, Janice." He smiled. Kandace smiled as she nudged Skorge to go back to the house. Skorge smiled a little and the four went back to relax. Kandace was still praying her friends were safe.


	17. Rendezvous

In the nexus, Clarity was alone in her stride through the rocky formations. Things had gotten especially lonely after Kandace was gone. She heard locust teasing and mumbling derogatory terms under their breaths as she walked past them, which she had chosen to ignore as she continued her journey. She stopped by Coquelicot's small clinic-like hut and rested back against the wall. A drone or two exited as they hissed at Clarity while they left.

"Filthy crossbreed..." One of the drones hissed grinding his teeth. Clarity's lips bent into a frown as she vented her anger throwing a small stone at him. The drone and his colleague turned immediately, as the one hit with the rock had an unsightly bruise on the back of his head. Clarity looked on nervously as they approached her cracking their knuckles. She curled up in her seat as Coquelicot stepped in front of her adamantly defending her.

"If you're going to behave in such a manner, then I'm afraid you'll be banned from my clinic." He growled.

"Very well, but you can't hide your filthy worms forever..." They snarled marching away. Coquelicot turned back to Clarity. "Are you alright?" He asked her. She nodded a little as Coquelicot went behind the desk and filed some papers on human skin scrolls. Clarity's older sister, Sanguine made her way to the others.

"Hm? What were those filthy purebloods up to?" She asked with a serious look on her face looking as though she was ready to crack their skulls.

"The usual, being rude to you children." He replied.

"Well, should they dare lay their grubby hands on Clarity, I'll make sure they can't walk again!" She slammed her fist on the desk, Coquelicot not really alarmed by it as he continued writing. He heard the chiming of glass shaking as he turned to see the vials of blood shaking mildly in their cases.

"You know, it's strange how Kandace used blood as a healing method." Clarity sighed. "You know how she is. She refuses to take it with syringes, out of fear and the sort." He said scanning the cabinet. Suddenly they slowly started to tip over, some shattering onto the floor. He looked alarmed as there was a bubbling pool forming on the floor. Suddenly a figure emerged from it, that figure being Samael.

"Reaper, you've returned." He said with a small smile.

"Enough talk, where is Kandace!? Is she hurt?" Sanguine demanded an answer, being as temperamental as she was, she wanted to ensure she was safe and sound. After all, she was the shining example of how capable hybrids could be. That and she was friends with her sister.

"I... Don't know, she's with Skorge though..." He replied. "Anyways, we should round up her little gang of comrades such as yourselves and regroup as soon as we can." Samael said observing the others.

"Where is the kantus with the false arms?" He asked. "He hasn't been here for a while. Probably with his girlfriend?" Clarity replied to him, as she stood up from her seat. She had been wondering where Stizza was, the trio of them and Kandace held unforgettable memories and to be smashed to pieces like fragile glass because of the Queen was unforgivable. She wanted to leave as soon as possible. Samael turned to her reflecting on what she said. At least someone was happy since Kandace was exiled.

"Very well, let us fetch him. You there, the theron guard, care to come with us." Samael as Coquelicot. He smiled fetching a small bag carrying it strapped over his shoulder. "Of course, this place has become susceptible to attacks often, and besides, someone has to watch over you all." He smiled. They then left to find Stizza's whereabouts.

Venturing into the moonlit wastes, Coquelicot suddenly picked up on the familiar mixed scent of human and locust. They came upon a desolated camp with a small cabin in near perfect condition. He confidently knocked on the door as the others stood behind him.

"Are you certain these are the coordinates?" He asked Clarity. She nodded in response as the door creaked open and they were greeted by Stizza, not wearing his usual armor.

"G-Guys? What are you doing here?" He asked. He noticed Samael and his tone quickly changed.

"Did something happen!?" He asked wondering what he of all people was doing there. Last time he had seen him he was exiled alongside Kandace a while ago. Stizza panicked under the impression that hybrids were going to be completely wiped from the Nexus or worse, Kandace being dead.

"Listen, we need to regroup with Kandace, okay? We're going to settle the matter between Amri-... No... "Vazeera", as this parasite calls itself, once and for all, and we'll need your assistance." Samael explained to him. Stizza calmed down as Esther approached from behind.

"Stizza, what's going on?" She asked him. "Listen, this is important I have to go somewhere, okay?" He said putting his hands on her shoulders.

"Why doesn't she tag along?" Clarity smiled. "Hm? You want to bring this human along?" Sanguine asked.

"No, she doesn't seem like she would be a threat, I'll allow it. Besides, I believe that we might have to make some sort of hideout for our next plans, and we need all the help we can get." Samael told her.

Sanguine smiled a bit patting the reaper's head. "And that's why you're the smartest in our little group... Well, next to Coquelicot, that is." She said looking over to him."

"Anyways, are you coming?" Coquelicot asked Stizza. "Yep! I'll join you guys soon." He said as he changed into his armor. He came back out with Esther, and they all decided to find the whereabouts of Kandace and Skorge.


End file.
